Apr 25

Apr 25 Utica to host 2024 International Ice Hockey Women's Championship By Ray Durso

Utica will serve as the host city for the 2024 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Championship, tentatively slated for April 4-14, 2024. USA Hockey will host the event in conjunction with the Upper Mohawk Valley Memorial Auditorium Authority and the Adirondack Bank Center and the Utica University Nexus Center. The 170,000 square-foot tournament-based recreation and sporting complex is utilized for ice hockey, box lacrosse, soccer and other field sports. The event, the premier international tournament in women's ice hockey, is expected to draw 10 international teams, 350 players, 30,000 local spectators and 20,000 overnight spectators to the Mohawk Valley.

"On behalf of the IIHF, I would like to congratulate the City of Utica for earning the honor of hosting the 2024 IIHF Women's World Championship," IIHF President Luc Tardif said. "It is wonderful to be back in the United States for this important women's tournament, and even more so to return to the state of New York, which has more recently hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women's World Championship and the IIHF World Junior Championship but has not hosted the Women's Worlds since way back in 1994.

The last time the IIHF Women's World Championship was hosted by USA Hockey was back in 2017, which, history has shown, was one of the most important and exciting IIHF events ever. A lot has changed in the women's game from 1994 to 2017 to today, and although fans will certainly be thrilled to witness another chapter in the exceptional United States-Canada rivalry, we also encourage people to watch the teams from Europe and the Far East that are catching up and closing the gap. Finland and Sweden, Czechia and Switzerland, Germany and Japan have all had exceptional performances in Brampton, Ontario, in 2023, and we expect these nations to challenge the North Americans even more in 2024."

Special thanks to The Genesis Group for this article. The Genesis Group is a civic organization that unites Business and Community Leaders working to advance regional Economic, Social and Cultural interests, and to foster unity and cooperation in the Mohawk Valley region of Upstate New York.