It’s the 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Denmark. Ten countries are involved, ranked in this order: 1) the US, 2) Canada, 3) Finland, 4) Czechia, 5) Switzerland, 6) Sweden, 7) Japan, 8) Germany, 9) Austria and 10) Denmark. New this year, instead of grouping the teams into the better five and the worse five, there are two groups each with an assortment: Group A has teams 1, 4, 5, 8 and 9; Group B has teams 2, 3, 6, 7 and 10. Let’s follow Japan, who are in Group B.
The Japanese team is just coming off a sweep of the 2026 Asia Championship, where they beat Kazakhstan 4 – 0, Korea 5 – 0 and China 6 – 0.
The Japanese squad includes six players from Daishin IHC, four from Seibu Princess Rabbits, three from Road Construction Peregrine, two from Toyota Cygnus and one from Mikage Gretz, plus one each from Timrå, Luleå, TPS Turku, Sabres St Pölten, North York Storm and Mississauga Junior Hurricanes.
Danish players tend to play in the Danish league, the Swedish league or US college hockey. But goalie Emma-Sofie Nordström has signed with PWHL Hamilton. The Danish women’s league, Kvindeligaen, has five clubs and began its season on September 6th.
The Canadian squad is made up of twenty PWHL players, plus five who are on US college teams. There are three Ottawa Charge players: Emily Clark, Sarah Wozniewicz and Rebecca Leslie. There’s been some turnover since the Olympics, with seven first-time players: Kendall Cooper, Caitlin Kraemer, Sara Manness, Hayley McDonald, Rosalie Tremblay, Leslie and Wozniewicz. Canada is in a licensing dispute with the IIHF so they’ll be wearing plain uniforms.
The Finnish roster includes three players from the Finnish league, nine from the SDHL, eight from US college hockey, Sanni Ahola of the Ottawa Charge, Nelli Laitinen of PWHL Hamilton, Elisa Holopainen of the New York Sirens, Michelle Karvinen and Petra Nieminen of La Victoire de Montréal, Emma Nuutinen of the Seattle Torrent, Susanna Tapani of the Boston Fleet and Viivi Vanhanen of the Minnesota Frost.
Sweden bring fourteen SDHL players, five from US college hockey, and five from the PWHL. Captain Anna Kjellbin will play for PWHL Hamilton this coming season.
The top four teams from each group advance to the quarter-finals, so the Denmark game is a potential banana skin for Japan.
November 7: Japan vs Denmark
November 8: Canada vs Japan
November 10: Finland vs Japan
November 11: Japan vs Sweden
