1999 IIHF Women's World Championship
The 1999 IIHF World Women's Championships was held between March 8–14, 1999, in the city of Espoo in Finland. Team Canada won their fifth consecutive gold medal at the World Championships defeating the United States. Canada skated to a solid 3–1 victory in the final to take the gold with a solid performance that saw them winning all five games.[1]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |  Finland |
| Dates | March 8–14 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Venue(s) | Espoo, Vantaa (in 2 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
Champions  | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Canada (5th title) |
Runner-up  |  United States |
Third place  | Finland |
| Fourth place |  Sweden |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 20 |
| Goals scored | 138 (6.9 per match) |
| Attendance | 25,234 (1,262 per match) |
| Scoring leader(s) | Jenny Schmidgall 12 points |
← 1997 2000 → | |
Finland picked up their fifth consecutive bronze medal, with a win over Sweden who had their strongest performance since 1992.
Qualification
The 1999 tournament created the format that has remained to the present, as the World Championships was greatly expanded to incorporate the European Championships and the Pacific Qualification Tournaments. There were a series of Qualification Tournaments Held to assign teams places in this first year, with the standard Promotion and Relegation model following after that. The top five nations from the Nagano Olympics were joined by three qualifiers.[2]
- Top five at the Olympics:
- Qualifiers from world tournaments:
Germany - Final Qualification group A winner
Switzerland - Final Qualification group B winner
Russia - Won playoff against 
Norway for final spot
World Championship Group A
The eight participating teams were divided up into two seeded groups as below. The teams played each other once in a single round robin format. The top two teams from the group proceeded to the Final Round, while the remaining teams played in the Consolation Round.
First round
| Teams proceed to Final round | |
| Teams sent to Consolation round |
Standings
| Rk. | Team | GP | W | T | L | GF | GA | DIF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | United States |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 2 | +20 | 6 |
| 2. | Sweden |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 4 |
| 3. |  China |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 11 | -7 | 2 |
| 4. | Russia |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 20 | -16 | 0 |
Results
All times local
| March 8, 1999 4:30 pm | United States | 10 – 2 ( 2 - 2, 4 - 0, 4 - 0) | Russia | Espoo |
| |||||
| March 8, 1999 4:30 pm | China | 1 – 3 | Sweden | Vantaa |
| March 9, 1999 8:00 pm | Sweden | 0 – 11 ( 0 - 3, 0 - 4, 0 - 4) | United States | Vantaa |
| |||||
| March 9, 1999 4:30 pm | China | 3 – 2 | Russia | Vantaa |
| March 11, 1999 4:30 pm | Russia | 0 – 7 | Sweden | Espoo |
| March 11, 1999 8:00 pm | United States | 6 – 0 ( 1 - 0, 2 - 0, 3 - 0) | China | Vantaa |
| |||||
Standings
| Rk. | Team | GP | W | T | L | GF | GA | DIF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Canada |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 0 | +24 | 6 |
| 2. | Finland |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 1 | +15 | 4 |
| 3. | Germany |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 26 | -21 | 2 |
| 4. | Switzerland |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 22 | -18 | 0 |
Results
All times local
| March 8, 1999 8:00 pm | Canada | 10 – 0 ( 2 - 0 , 6 - 0 , 2 - 0 ) | Switzerland | Vantaa |
| |||||
| March 8, 1999 8:00 pm | Finland | 9 – 0 | Germany | Espoo |
| March 9, 1999 4:30 pm | Germany | 0 – 13 ( 0 - 4 , 0 - 6 , 0 - 3 ) | Canada | Espoo |
| |||||
| March 9, 1999 8:00 pm | Finland | 7 – 0 | Switzerland | Espoo |
| March 11, 1999 8:00 pm | Switzerland | 4 – 5 ( 0 - 0 , 1 - 0 , 0 - 0 ) | Germany | Vantaa |
| March 11, 1999 8:00 pm | Canada | 1 – 0 | Finland | Espoo |
| |||||
Playoff Round
Consolation Round 5-8 Place
| March 12, 1999 4:30 pm | Germany | 2 – 6 | Russia | Vantaa |
| March 12, 1999 7:30 pm | China | 3 – 2 | Switzerland | Vantaa |
Final round
| Semi finals 13 March 1999 |
Finals 14 March 1999 | |||||||
| A1 | United States |
3 | Gold Medal Game | |||||
| B2 | Finland |
1 | ||||||
| Canada |
3 | |||||||
| United States |
1 | |||||||
| B1 | Canada |
4 | ||||||
| A2 | Sweden |
1 | Bronze Medal Game | |||||
| Finland |
8 | |||||||
| Sweden |
2 | |||||||
Scoring leaders
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jenny Schmidgall |
5 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 9 |
| Jayna Hefford |
5 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 8 |
| Kirsi Hanninen |
5 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 6 |
| Petra Vaarakallio |
5 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Sari Fisk |
5 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 3 |
| Karyn Bye |
5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 6 |
| Nancy Drolet |
5 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 6 |
| Cammi Granato |
5 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 9 |
| Hayley Wickenheiser |
5 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 5 |
| Katie King |
5 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 6 |
Goaltending leaders
| Player | Mins | GA | SOG | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sami Jo Small |
180:00 | 1 | 56 | 0.33 | 98.21 |
| Kim St-Pierre |
120:00 | 1 | 34 | 0.50 | 97.06 |
| Erin Whitten |
179:03 | 4 | 72 | 1.34 | 94.44 |
| Tuula Puputti |
237:27 | 6 | 89 | 1.52 | 93.26 |
| Laurie Beliveau |
120:00 | 2 | 23 | 1.00 | 91.30 |
Final standings
| Rk. | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|
 | Canada | |
 | United States | |
 | Finland | |
| 4. | Sweden | |
| 5. | China | |
| 6. | Russia | |
| 7. | Germany | |
| 8. | Switzerland | Relegated to the 2000 World Championships Group B |
World Championship Group B
In addition to the main World Championships, this year saw the first running of World Championship Group B, which replaced the European Championships. Eight further teams played in this competition, hosted by France in the town of Colmar. 
Japan won the tournament defeating Norway in the final 7-1 to win the competition and to ensure their Promotion to the main World Championship in 2000.
Directorate Awards
- Goalie: Sami Jo Small, (Canada)
- Defender: Kirsi Hanninen, (Finland)
- Forward: Jenny Schmidgall, (United States)[4]
References
- https://teamusa.usahockey.com/page/show/4286763-1999-iihf-women-s-world-championship
- detailed qualification summary
- Group A goaltending leaders
- Collins gem Hockey Facts and Stats 2009-10, p.542, Andrew Podnieks, Harper Collins Publishers Ltd, Toronto, Canada, ISBN 978-1-55468-621-6
- Duplacey, James (1998). Total Hockey: The official encyclopedia of the National Hockey League. Total Sports. pp. 487–9. ISBN 0-8362-7114-9.
- Podnieks, Andrew (2010). IIHF Media Guide & Record Book 2011. Moydart Press. pp. 26–7, 230.