If you've never seen the IIHF's "Power Rankings," consider yourself lucky...that is unless you think mocking the nations in your own Federation, women's hockey, and the athletes who've worked their entire lives to reach the Olympics is funny.
If you've ever spotted the IIHF's "Power Rankings," you'll notice a few clear things. First, they aren't actual power rankings. Second, they've written like a roast, aiming to mock lower ranked nations, and they're riddled with poor taste, and at times, demeaning comments.
The most recent IIHF Power Rankings for the Olympic women's hockey tournament was the perfect example, but certainly not the only one of these Olympic Games.
At the top of the rankings, USA's comment read "Her Real Name Is Abbey Tkackuk." You can guess how many men's power rankings erased the names of top men's players in the world or compared them to women's players. If you guessed none, you're correct. There are a significant number of professional women's hockey players, including on Murphy's own team, and legends of the game you could compare Murphy to. Abbey Murphy is Abbey Murphy. She's one of the most electrifying and skilled players on the planet. At age 23, Murphy has four World Championship medals and an Olympic medal, which she'll add to at these Olympics. The Tkachuk brothers have no international medals with Team USA at the senior national level. They do have World Junior medals, which Murphy would also have, but the IIHF has continued to deny women opportunities by refusing to close the inequitable gap in their offerings by not running a women's World Junior tournament. They made a similar comment with Germany's Laura Kluge earlier in the tournament comparing her to German soccer player Miroslav Klose.
As you go down the list however, and look at the past "Power Rankings" in this tournament, it's clear the organization responsible for supporting and promoting hockey globally is simply mocking their own nations, particularly those they don't believe are medal contenders, placing women as secondary, and demeaning the performances of athletes who have worked their entire lives to get to the Olympics.
Media often analyze, critique, and question performances, coaching decisions and roster formations. The IIHF is not a media outlet, they're a governing body. And what they're providing is not analysis or thoughtful critique, it's simply a sardonic attempt, and a failed one at that, at humor.
When commenting on Japan following their elimination, the IIHF wrote "Can we offer-sheet Abby Roque?"
There are no offer sheets in women's hockey, although it would be nice if women in hockey could freely be offered millions of dollars by another organization who saw more value in their play than where they currently were. And the IIHF chose to highlight an athlete who hasn't played internationally in three years over 23 women who competed proudly representing Japan at the 2026 Olympics. We get it, haha, Abby Roque is better than every player on Team Japan. Good one, IIHF.
And the IIHF was right to highlight how terrible they felt Germany did at this tournament, by looking on the bright side, that at least they didn't lose to Latvia. Latvian women's hockey players probably like to be known as the program that it would be so infinitely embarrassing to lose to at the Olympics that their own governing body uses them as the butt of their joke. Perhaps the IIHF should spend even an iota of that attitude the next time they speak to the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation and ask why there's such a disparity in their support for men's and women's hockey, and then ask themselves why they allow federations under their watch to fund the sport inequitably. Oh, and Germany beat Japan, France, and Italy, three teams actually in this tournament. Their only losses in a tournament they finished with a winning record came to teams who will play for Olympic medals. Overall, that seems like a successful result that should be celebrated.
It was a similar moment to jeering Japan's early exit from their "haiku-length tournament," a comment that came in the same "Power Ranking" where the IIHF made a poop joke about Finland. Finland saw so many members of their roster ill and quarantined with norovirus, known to cause diarrhea, that the first game of their tournament needed to be postponed. As Finland's Olympic hopes were put at risk, the governing body of their sport made sure the world knew, not that the Finns are amazing athletes that kids should look up to, but that their entire team was dealing with diarrhea as they IIHF instructed the Finns to "turn crappiness into happiness."
Then there was the tournament opening "Power Rankings" that mocked Canada's team age saying "retirement age is 65," Switzerland's lack of scoring saying "our goal is to score some goals," and then to make fun of Japan and Italy's chances.
For Japan, all the IIHF could say about their national team is that they were the "world's best Japanese-speaking team."
Why would anyone watch women's hockey when the IIHF opens every "Power Ranking" by clearly mocking and asserting how bad they think their own teams are. For hosts Italy, who later qualified for the quarterfinals and made their entire nation proud, the IIHF asked fans to "visit the duomo and pray for us" on behalf of Team Italy.
The IIHF's job should not be to demean and mock their own nations. And the only thing less funny than these "Power Rankings" is the continued inequitable support women and girls in hockey receive globally, including from the IIHF where rules, formats, and offerings differ greatly between men and women.
Arriving at the Olympics, the IIHF's member nations should be celebrated, not have their Olympic hopes mocked, their names erased in favor of men, or their health turned into a joke.
If the IIHF believes many of their women's hockey nations are worthy of ridicule, perhaps they should support the development of girls and women's hockey, and promote the game and athletes as valuable, rather than demean and taunt women and girls.