Women’s Ice Hockey took over Central New York for the first two weeks of April laying a new path to what is to come for the sport. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women’s World Championship is the premier international ice hockey tournament for women.
The tournament starts with ten teams from around the world ending with a silver, bronze, and gold winner. The ten teams are grouped into A and B groups. After the preliminary games, there is a single round-robin round, with all five teams from A and the top three teams from B proceeding to the playoffs. There are 29 games in total.
40 Cortland students volunteered as part of a sport management class organized by Dr. Erin Morris. The students who took the class were granted the opportunity to travel to Utica, NY allowing them to get some behind-the-scenes action. The positions and roles students had ranged from keeping track of how many spectators entered the fan zone to team services.
This experience provided a great example of what a typical day for someone who works in sports does. It allowed them to work in those positions and see how an event is run as well as make connections. It taught the students valuable lessons that they will be able to apply in the classroom and their careers.
“The main thing I learned was the importance of communication,” said Senior Alicia McCarville “Communication is what makes a live event work, especially when you have 10 teams playing 25 games in less than two weeks,” said McCarville.
Being outside the classroom and being a part of an actual life event was eye-opening for many of the students. Seeing all of the moving parts of how a sporting event is run was beneficial.
“We always talk about the different events and all the different moving parts, but learning about it is different from seeing it.” Said McCarville.
The tournament came down to two games on the last day, April 14th. In these games, there were bronze, silver, and gold winners awarded. Both games had a highly intense level of play, were high energy, and exciting to watch.
The bronze medal game was Czechia vs Finland. The third period ended in a low-scoring tie, 2-2. The game then went into overtime, no goals were scored by either team. Then there was a shootout. At the end of the shootout, Petra Nieminen; Finland was the equalizer in the shootout. The Finnish flag was raised as the nation’s anthem played throughout the arena and the country was awarded with bronze medals.
The gold medal game was USA vs Canada. The third period ended in a 5-5 tie. Overtime started and both teams came out strong and determined to get the first goal. The USA made an unfortunate mistake, too many players on the ice. Shortly after this Danielle Serdachny; Canada shot a goal making them the gold medalists of the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship.
The Nexus Center and Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, NY were utilized for practices and games. The IIHF, USA Hockey, and the Utica Comets were the main contributors to the tournament and welcomed teams from ten countries.
As the tournament progressed the energy and excitement surrounding the tournament grew stronger. Fans traveled from as far as China to see their team compete on a world stage. Spectators as young as month olds-late 80s packed The AUD to watch Women’s Hockey, some even finding a new team to become a fan of.
Schools in the Utica region were given tickets for their students along with activity books. The book was to provide information on the countries and the rules of hockey in an interactive way. It allowed the students to learn about Women’s Ice Hockey and get excited about the game before attending. Students and classes were encouraged to choose a team they wanted to root for before attending the game and learn even more about that country.
Even if you weren’t a hockey fan you just wanted to be around the event you became a hockey fan. The organizers of the tournament took what Olympic villages look like and made their village filled with activities for all ages. The Subaru World Championship Village had bands, food, drinks, TV, games and much more.
At the games, local businesses had small giveaways and raffles and the outside of the rink. There was fun to be had by everyone, everywhere.
The IIHF Women’s World Championship and women’s hockey have grown a decent size in the past few years. There was more media coverage and presence this year than in years prior. There are more streaming services offering it, including but not limited to, FUBO, ESPN+, and NHL. There were also foreign networks offering it in broadcast and stream form. For the first time, the feed for the broadcast was picked up by 9 out of 10 of the countries, including Japan and China. The event had 71 accredited media representatives, not including those who were volunteers in the media section.
Next year the IIHF Women’s World Championship is set to take place in Czechia. The tournament is to take place from April 9th-20th 2025.
