Shuffling The Deck

I don't think anyone will find fault in the 2022 IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship that was played in the cities of Frederikshavn and Herning, Denmark. The action was fantastic, there were a few surprises, and final saw another classic battle between Canada and the US with Canada defending its gold-medal status today. After the dust settled, the tournament seemed to go off without a hitch outside of a nearly complete reshuffling of the groups of teams with respect to who will play in each group at the 2023 event which will take place on Canadian soil once more. If one wanted to see the growth of the game in real-time, there were some impressive performances by a few teams that will make the groups look entirely different from what we usually see.

Group A will still contain two usual faces as Canada and the US will anchor that group once again. As the only gold medallists at this event since its start, it was pretty clear that the Canadians and Americans were the class of the tournament in Denmark based on their scores and final standings. I don't think anyone will dispute that the top-two teams on the planet still hold a sizable edge on the rest of the world.

Joining Canada and the US in Group A will be Czechia, Switzerland, and Japan which, at first glance, might seem a little unfair considering that Switzerland is the fourth-overall team on the planet, Czechia is sixth, and Japan is seventh. Czechia, though, earned their way to the top group with a bronze-medal finish over Switzerland while Japan defeated Finland to claim fifth-place in this year's tournament to grab the fifth and final spot in Group A.

Czechia's impressive run this year was quite historic. They've never finished higher than sixth-place in any of the six tournaments they've played, but it's the level of talent that needs to be highlighted as we're seeing some exceptional players where the Czechia jersey. Goaltender Klara Peslarova is clearly benefitting from playing in the SDHL as she was outstanding throughout the entire event while University of Vermont's Natalie Mlynkova, former Modo defender Daniela Pejsova, and 16 year-old sniper Adela Sapovalivova all played key roles in this tournament for Czechia.

What might be their new calling card, though, was the work ethic shown by the Czechs as head coach Carla McLeod and assistant coach Cassia Schols seemed to put an emphasis on outworking their opponents. This should be evident from how they coached their prep teams - Carla with Edge School and Cassia with Okanagan Hockey Academy - as both women had extremely hard-working teams in the past. Win or lose, there was no doubt that you were in for a sixty-minute effort to defeat a McLeod- or Schols-led team.

"We've got great goaltending in our program, and that's the foundation of building out," McLeod said following the bronze-medal victory. "And our group didn't waver. We understand who we are, what our game style is. I'm really proud of this group for staying the course throughout the tournament."

With Czechia playing to its strengths while minimizing its weaknesses, it found ways to defeat a plucky Hungary team, shutout Germany and Sweden, and defeat Finland in overtime to earn its spot in Group A before downing Switzerland to score their first-ever medal at the Women's World Championship. When a talented team plays to its strengths and works harder than its opposition thanks to some savvy coaching, that team will be hard to defeat. Czechia is proof of that, and their inclusion to Group A at next year's tournament is well-earned after this year's showing!

The other team that people may raise eyebrows about when they see the Group A pool next year is Japan, but they too used a simple plan of outworking their opponents for sixty minutes while minimizing their weaknesses. The Japanese team was scoring by committee in most of their games, but the depth of scoring worked for them as Haruka Toko had just six points as Japan's leading scorer while Akane Shiga was next with five points. Miyuu Masuhara was solid in net with a .915 save percentage, so Japan clearly had something else working for them.

Japan was taken to the woodshed in their opening games of the tournament as they lost 10-0 to Team USA, 3-1 to Switzerland, 9-0 to Canada, and 9-3 versus Finland. Losing to all four of the top-four teams on the planet shouldn't surprise anyone, but it's what Japan did after those games that made people sit up and notice. And it was evident during the Switzerland game as well, so you could see Japan was, perhaps, poised to break out in the event.

Japan entered the Group B quarterfinal play and simply refused to let up against Sweden. Sweden led 3-0 after the first period, and Japan could have simply skated this one away had they felt there was no chance to rally. But rally they did as they scored the next four goals over 23:21 of play, and they led 4-3 at 7:22 of the third period! They turned mistakes made by Sweden into scoring chances, they tightened up their own defensive play, and they scored goals when given the opportunity. Sweden would tie game, but Japan would be undeterred as they continued to force Sweden into mistakes, and Remi Koyama would make them pay for a mistake with 2:48 to play as she beat Emma Soderberg for what was the game-winning goal!

For a team that went 0-4 in group play, Japan was now one win away from rejoining Group A play in 2023! The team that stood before them, though, were the third-overall team in the world rankings in Finland, and the Finns had already thumped Japan 9-3 on August 29. Would the past haunt the Japanese in this game?

If there was one word to describe this game for Japan, it would be "flawless". Japan was outshot 61-17 in the game by the Finns, but were undeterred. Finland didn't take a single penalty to allow Japan a break, but that didn't shift the focus of the Japanese. Fatigue may have set in, but the Japanese didn't show it. At the end of the day, it took a shootout to defeat the Finns, but the 1-0 victory recorded by Japan over Finland might have been the biggest hockey victory in the country's history!

Miyuu Masuhara may have emerged as the newest hockey star in Japan, but the goaltender seems to be taking the opportunities she was given in stride at this event.

"Against the US, I only felt the fun, that I'm playing in the World Championship," Masuhara said after winning in the shootout. "Then getting to play many times through the games, I got the feeling that's possible to feel like I can give more contributions to the team. That was a massive change inside me, the feeling that it's possible for me to contribute."

Thanks to inspired performances by Czechia and Japan, it will be the first time that Finland will find itself in Group B alongside emerging teams such as Germany, Sweden, Hungary, and 2023-promoted France. The sixth-place finish was the lowest standing that Finland had ever registered at any World Championship, but captain Jenni Hiirikoski's statement following the loss seemed to indicate that this summer's event may have been one of the best tournaments in terms of the competition that the IIHF has had the pleasure of holding.

"It was not an easy tournament, but life is never easy, and we need to learn and grow as a team," Hiirikoski said. "I think we came back for today. We played a good game as a team, but the result is not there.

"I think the whole game was pretty much Finland against her," Hiirikoski added, referencing Masuhara's brillian performance in net. "She did an awesome job, and I think we definitely had enough chances to score."

With Canada, the US, Czechia, Switzerland, and Japan in Group A in 2023, and Finland, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, and France in Group B, it seems that the decks are being shuffled in women's hockey. Yes, there's still a gap between Canada and the US compared to the rest of the world, but gaps between everyone else are shrinking. They take big steps some years as seen this year, but the differences between Czechia, Japan, Switzerland, and Finland may not be as big as they once were.

Yes, these countries have to continue down this path of development in order to continue to shrink the gaps between them, but it seems pretty clear that the disparity between countries isn't as great as it once was. If Russia is ever allowed back onto the international hockey scene, we'll have to see if their absence has affected their status among the teams as well, but you're never going to hear me complain when the deck gets shuffled at any World Championship because it means that the talent levels among the teams is growing.

Congratulations to Canada on defending their gold medal. Congratulations to the US for another successful tournament, and to Hilary Knight who is now the highest scorer in history of the World Championship. And congratulations to Czechia who earned a bronze medal, their first medal of any kind, at a Women's World Championship!

I'm already excited to see which teams take major steps forward at the 2023 IIHF Women's World Championship!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!