After much backlash over the cancellation of the Women’s Worlds Championships while many other events continued, the IIHF has announced that the Women’s World Championships will indeed be happening this year.

Currently, the event is scheduled for August 20-31 with Canada acting as the host country. Venues and host cities have yet to be decided upon but an announcement is expected in the coming weeks.

Over the past few weeks, many advocates of women’s hockey spoke out about the hypocrisy of cancelling one of the most important events in women’s hockey while other tournaments such as the men’s U18 Championship were allowed to continue. Most notably, Team Canada goalie Shannon Szabados spoke out on twitter, even volunteering herself to join the hockey operations team and add some much needed insight and experience.

With the Stanley Cup playoffs expected to end in mid-July, and the 2021-2022 to begin during its usual earlier October start, having the Women’s World Championships in late August provides plenty of excellent exposure to hockey fans starved for some on-ice action during the offseason.