The 1990 IIHF World Women's Championships was an international women's ice hockey competition held at the Civic Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (now renamed the TD Place Arena) from March 19 to 25, in 1990.[1] This was the first IIHF-sanctioned international tournament in women's ice hockey and is the only major international tournament in women's ice hockey to allow bodychecking.[2] Full contact bodychecking was allowed with certain restrictions near the boards. The intermissions between periods were twenty minutes instead of fifteen.[3] This has since[when?] been changed to the usual fifteen minutes.
Canada's Fran Rider helped to organize the championships without the financial support from the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (now known as Hockey Canada).[4]
The tournament drew strong international attention. The gold medal game packed 9,000 people into the arena and drew over a million viewers on television.[citation needed] For marketing purposes, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association decided the Canadian national team should wear pink and white uniforms instead of the expected red and white[5] and released a related film called, "Pretty in Pink". While the experiment only lasted for this tournament, Ottawa was taken over by a "pink craze" during the championships. Restaurants had pink-coloured food on special, and pink became a popular colour for flowers and bow ties.[5]
TOI = Time On Ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots Against; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO = Shutouts Source: whockey.com
This is the only major international tournament in women's ice hockey to allow bodychecking.[2] Bodychecking rules allowed for full-contact checking, with certain limitations along the boards.
[7]
Before the tournament, bodychecking had been allowed in women's ice hockey in Europe and North America though Canada had begun to gradually eliminate the tactic from their women's ice hockey programs in the mid-1980's. The European teams asked for bodychecking to be included.[2]
After this tournament, the International Ice Hockey Federation disallowed bodychecking in women's ice hockey.[2] It is currently[when?] an infraction punished with a minor or major and game misconduct penalty.[8]
U.S. team captain Tina Cardinale-Beauchemin's right forearm and elbow, "were a mass of purple-and-blue welts, courtesy of a slash early in the tournament." Canada's France Saint-Louis, "spent three days in a hospital after taking a stick across the throat". Finland's Kirsi Hirvonen was "carried away with a neck injury after being cross-checked."[7]
^On the Edge: Women Making Hockey History, p.81, by Elizabeth Etue and Megan K. Williams, Second Story Press, Toronto, Ontario, 1996, ISBN0-929005-79-1
Canada
United States
Finland
Sweden
West Germany
Japan
Switzerland
Norway
Canada