2017 IIHF Women's World Championship
The 2017 IIHF Women's World Championship was an international Ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was held in Plymouth Township, Michigan, United States from 31 March to 7 April 2017. The USA Hockey Arena served as the event's venue using Arena I and Arena II. The United States defeated Canada in the gold medal game 3–2 after overtime, winning their eighth title. Finland won the bronze medal by beating Germany 8–0. Venues Participants Group A – Hosts Group B – Promoted from Division I Group A in 2016 Match officials 10 referees and 9 linesmen were selected for the tournament. Referees Dina Allen Gabrielle Ariano-Lortie Nikoleta Celárová Anna Eskola Drahomira Fialova Gabriella Gran Nicole Hertrich Aina Hove Miyuki Nakayama Melissa Szkola Linesmen Bettina Angerer Veronica Johansson Michaela Kúdeľová Jessica Leclerc Lisa Linnek Ilona Novotná Nataša Pagon Johanna Tauriainen Justine Todd Rosters Each team's roster consists of at least 15 skaters (forwards, and defencemen) and 2 goaltenders, and at most 20 skaters and 3 goaltenders. All eight participating nations, through the confirmation of their respective national associations, had to submit a "Long List" roster no later than two weeks before the tournament, and a final roster by the Passport Control meeting prior to the start of tournament. Preliminary round All times are local (UTC−4). Group A Group B Relegation round The third and fourth placed team from Group B played a best-of-three series to determine the relegated team. The IIHF opted to expand the World Championship to ten teams starting in 2019, so no team was relegated after all. Switzerland won series 2–1 Final round Bracket Quarterfinals Semifinals Fifth place game Bronze medal game Gold medal game Statistics Final standings Scoring leaders List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals. GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com Leading goaltenders Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list. TOI = Time on Ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts Source: IIHF.com Awards Best players selected by the directorate: Best Goaltender: Noora Räty Best Defenceman: Jenni Hiirikoski Best Forward: Brianna Decker Source: IIHF.com All-star team Goaltender: Noora Räty Defence: Monique Lamoureux, Jenni Hiirikoski Forwards: Marie-Philip Poulin, Brianna Decker, Kendall Coyne MVP: Brianna Decker Source: IIHF.com Threatened boycott by US players On 15 March 2017, the U.S. team announced that unless concessions were made by USA Hockey, they would boycott the World Championship to protest inequitable support and conditions for women's hockey. The players were publicly supported by the players' associations for the NBA, WNBA, MLB, NFL, and the NHL. After several days of stalled negotiations and attempts to field a team of non-boycotting players, causing concern over such a team being competitive, an agreement was struck