The playoffs have started in the 2015 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Malmö, Sweden. Canada and team USA qualified directly to the semifinals from group A. USA won the group, beating Canada 4-2 in the group final. Finland placed third and met Switzerland in the quarterfinal, beating the Swiss 3-0. The other quarterfinal is played right now between Sweden who won group B, against Russia who finished last in group A. The standing is 0-0. The winner between the two teams will face USA in the semifinal. Finland will face Canada.
Who will win the gold 2015?
In 2014 no top-level tournament was played in the women’s hockey beside the olympic games in Sochi. Teams not invited to the olympics played a minor tournament. Canada won the olympic gold, beating USA in the final just like they did in the 2013 World Championships. Chances are that the teams will face each other in the final this year as well since the European teams haven’t kept up with the North Atlantic dominance. Sweden beat USA in the 2006 olympic semifinal but since then, USA and Canada has won all gold and silver medals in the major tournaments. Hopefully this will change soon since the sport needs competition. This year, however, we bet that USA will win the gold and Canada the silver. If Sweden beat Russia, maybe they can use the home team advantage and beat Finland in the bronze medal game. Sweden got a rough start to the tournament when they lost against Japan who got their first championship victory ever. Since then the Swedes beat Switzerland and Germany and made it to the quarter final.
