Hockey Canada has revealed that Calgary has been named the new host for the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship.
The 31-game tournament will be played at WinSport Arena at Canada Olympic Park from Aug. 20 to 31 and feature 10 teams from around the world.
This will be the eighth time Canada has hosted the event, and the first time for Alberta.
On April 21, Nova Scotia pulled the plug on the tournament for the second time amid rising cases of COVID-19 in the province.
The championship, which was scheduled to take place May 6 to 16 in Halifax and Truro, was previously cancelled in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.
At the time, the decision drew some criticism and plenty of disappointment.
In the days and weeks after, the province went into a lockdown and registered more hospitalizations than the first first and second waves combined.
“Despite the unfortunate cancellation of the IIHF Women’s World Championship in April, Hockey Canada’s ongoing priority has been to host the event this year, and we have remained committed to running a world-class event in Canada,” said Scott Smith, president and chief operating officer with Hockey Canada, in a news release.
“A tremendous amount of work and collaboration with Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services has taken place to ensure the event will be held in a safe and secure manner. We are grateful to the Province of Alberta, the City of Calgary, Tourism Calgary, WinSport and all our event partners for working together to provide the best women’s hockey players in the world an opportunity to compete for a gold medal.”
Teams will begin arriving in Calgary on Aug. 10 and immediately enter quarantine, before taking part in practices and possible pre-tournament games.
A full tournament schedule will be announced at a later date.
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