1999 IIHF Women's World Championship

The 1999 IIHF Women's World Championships was held between March 8–14, 1999, in Espoo and Vantaa 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. 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. Top five at the Olympics: United States Canada Finland China Sweden 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 == === Group A === ==== Standings ==== ==== Results ==== All times local === Group B === ==== Standings ==== ==== Results ==== All times local == Playoff round == === Consolation round 5–8 place === === Consolation round 7–8 place === === Consolation round 5–6 place === === Final round === === Semifinals === === Match for third place === === Final === == Champions == == Scoring leaders == == Goaltending leaders == == Final standings == == 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) == References == 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. == External links == Summary from the Women's Hockey Net Detailed summary from passionhockey.com