Note: The Penalty Box Post for Tuesday, April 8 was posted on April 16 due to travel to the Frozen Four.
2025 IIHF Women's World Championship
Wednesday, April 9 through Sunday, April 20
Arena České Budějovice – České Budějovice, Czechia
12 Gophers – representing 6 nations – participating in the tournament
Twelve (12) representatives of the Minnesota Women's Hockey program are headed to the upcoming 2025 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women's World Championship, being held at the Arena České Budějovice in České Budějovice, Czechia, starting tomorrow – Wednesday, April 9 – and continuing through Sunday, April 20. This marks the first time Czechia has hosted the tournament.
Gophers participating in the tournament include:
Canada – Chloe Primerano
Czechia – Natálie Mlýnková & Tereza Plosová
Finland – Nelli Laitinen & Krista Parkkonen
Hungary – Emma Kreisz
Sweden – Josefin Bouveng
USA – Abbey Murphy, Taylor Heise, Grace Zumwinkle, Kelly Pannek, and Lee Stecklein
Tournament preview – Canada looks to repeat and earn their 14th championship after having outlasted the Americans in last year's Gold Medal Game in Utica, NY, 6-5 in overtime, while Team USA is looking for their 11th title. Meanwhile, the host Czechs look to earn a medal for the third time, having claimed bronze two years ago, while Finland looks to medal for the second-straight year. Those four teams are joined by Switzerland in Group A and, under the current tournament format, all five automatically qualify for the elimination round.
Germany, Japan and Sweden return in Group B for the 2025 tournament. They are joined by newly-promoted Hungary & Norway. The top three teams in the group after the preliminary round will advance to elimination round, while the bottom two teams will be relegated to Division 1 Group A for 2026.
Action begins at 11 a.m. local time / 4 a.m. U.S. Central as Sweden takes on Germany, followed by Finland vs. USA at 3 p.m. local / 8 a.m. Central, and Czechia vs. Switzerland at 7 p.m. local / 12 noon Central. The Hungarians and Canadians have their first action on Thursday (April 10); Hungary will face the Swedes at 8 a.m. Central, and Canada takes on Finland at 12 noon Central. Notably, Canada and the United States square off in the preliminary round on Sunday, April 13, at 12 noon Central. The full game schedule is available here. It appears NHL Network will televise all 29 contests in the USA, with coverage in Canada on the TSN family of channels.
Additional tournament notes –
This will be the final year the tournament features tiered groups (with the top five teams in Group A and the next five in Group B). As approved by the IIHF Congress last September, “snake seeding” will be used to create two groups of equal rank starting in 2026.
The IIHF has launched a new subscription streaming service at iihf.tv. However, games in the 2025 Women's World Championship Top Division are not shown as available at the time this email was written (though this is subject to change).
Pre-tournament exhibitions –
Hungary 4, Japan 2 (March 30) – Petra Polónyi, Tamara Gondos, Lotti Odnoga and Alexandra Huszák scored for the Hungarians, while Kanami Seki and Rui Ukita lit the lamp for Japan.
Finland 3, Sweden 2, shootout (April 4) – Julia Schalin and Jenniina Nylund gave Finland a 2-0 lead in the second period, with Krista Parkkonen assisting on Nylund's goal. Sara Hjalmarsson and Hanna Thuvik (short-handed) tallied for the Swedes in the third period to knot the score, forcing overtime and an eventual shootout. The teams traded second-round goals as Petra Nieminen (FIN) and Hilda Svensson (SWE) lit the lamp, but Finland's Elisa Holopainen found the back of the net in the third round for the victory.
Hungary 2, Norway 1 (April 6) – Alexandra Huszák (power play) and Míra Seregély (empty-net) put the Hungarians up 2-0 late, though Andrine Furulund scored for the Norwegians with 20 seconds remaining to avoid being shut out.
Sweden vs. Switzerland (April 6) – No information available
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