IIHF, PWHL not aligned over 2026 women's hockey worlds scheduling

The International Ice Hockey Federation has postponed announcing the host city of the 2026 women's world hockey championship.

The IIHF introduced running a women's championship in the same year as an Olympic Games in 2022, but the arrival of the Professional Women's Hockey League has made scheduling the 2026 world championship thorny.

The IIHF said in an email Monday the allocation of the 2026 women's championship was postponed until its semi-annual congress Oct. 3-4.

The 2022 championship was held Aug. 25 to Sept. 4. In Herning and Frederikshavn, Denmark, after February's Olympic Games in Beijing.

International Ice Hockey Federation women's committee chair Zsuzsanna Kolbenheyer said in April that March-early April for the women's championship is in the IIHF bylaws, and that Denmark's summer tournament was a one-off.

"That was only for that year," Kolbenheyer said then. "We always wanted to put it back to the original dates."

But the PWHL, entering its third season, does not want two long international breaks within weeks of each other. The Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy, run Feb. 6-22.

"We've had ongoing discussions with the IIHF," PWHL executive vice-president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford said Friday during a conference call about league expansion. "We do not have a date for that event, location for that event.

"We do know the Olympics are happening in February, but anything beyond that is not confirmed. So that's the information we have today, and we'll continue to work closely with the IIHF and various national federations."

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