The 2026 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship was the 18th U18 Women's World Championship in ice hockey.
Top Division The Top Division tournament was played in Membertou and Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, from 10 to 18 January 2026.
Host selection On 3 January 2025, Canada and the IIHF signed an agreement handing five IIHF women's competitions between 2026 and 2030 to Canada.https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2025/wm20/news/65170/hockey_canada_to_host_more_iihf_eventshttps://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/iihf-womens-hockey-hosting-agreement-2024-25-corp
Participants Eight teams took part in the competition. Hungary returned for the first time since 2014. They replaced Japan, who were immediately relegated back to the Division I after finishing last in 2025. Qualification Host Dates Vacancies Qualified Top seven in 2025 Vantaa 4–12 January 2025 7 (H) Promoted from Division I Budapest 5–11 January 2025 1
Summary of qualified teams
TeamQualification methodAppearance(s)Previous best performance First in 2025 2008 2025 18 Second in 2025 18 Third in 2025 18 Fourth in 202518 Fifth in 2025 11 Sixth in 2025 18 Seventh in 2025 2020 6 Champions of Division I 2013 2014 1
Groups composition The serpentine system was used to organise the groups (rankings in brackets).
Group A (1) (4) (5) (8)
Group B (2) (3) (6) (7)
Preliminary round All times are local (UTC−4).
Group A
Group B
Playoff round Winning teams were reseeded for the semi-finals in accordance with the following ranking:
Higher position in their group Higher number of points in preliminary pool play Better goal differential Higher number of goals scored Better seeding coming into the tournament (final placement at the 2025 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship).
+ Rank Team Group Pos Pts GD GF Seed 1 B 1 9 +35 36 2 2 A 1 9 +30 32 1 3 B 2 6 +5 17 3 4 A 2 6 −1 9 4 5 A 3 3 −10 2 5 6 B 3 3 −15 7 7 7 A 4 0 −19 1 8 8 B 4 0 −25 3 6
Bracket
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Relegation game
Bronze medal game
Gold medal game
Awards and statistics Awards
Best players selected by the Directorate Position Player Goaltender Norina Schrupkowski Defender Maggie Averill Forward Jane Daley Source:IIHF.com
All-Star team Position Player Goaltender Norina SchrupkowskiDefender Maggie Averill Megan MosseyForward Jane Daley Adrianna Milani Sofia Ismael MVP Jane Daley
Scoring leaders List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
RankPlayerGPGAPts+/−PIMPOS 1 Jane Daley 6 12 5 17 +17 2 F 2 Sofia Ismael 6 7 8 15 +15 0 F 3 Emily Pohl 6 6 9 15 +15 0 F 4 Maggie Averill 6 6 8 14 +18 4 D 4 Talla Hansen 6 6 6 12 +14 0 F 6 Kylie Amelkovich 6 2 12 14 +16 4 F 7 Adrianna Milani 6 10 3 13 +12 2 F 8 Rachel Piggott 6 7 5 12 +17 0 F 9 Megan Mossey 5 2 9 11 +15 0 D 10 Chyna Taylor 6 0 11 11 +19 0 D GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF
Leading goaltenders Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
RankPlayerTOIGAGAASASv%SO 1 Bianca Birrittieri 240:00 2 0.50 79 97.47 2 2 Norina Schrupkowski 227:52 10 2.63 159 93.71 1 3 Lea-Rose Charrois 238:00 5 1.26 70 92.86 1 4 Veronika Ortová 154:48 13 5.04 116 88.79 0 5 Zoé Takács 207:57 17 4.91 127 86.61 0 TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts Source: IIHF
Final standings
Division I
Group A The tournament was held in Ritten, Italy, from 12 to 18 January 2026.
Group B The tournament was held in Katowice, Poland, from 5 to 11 January 2026.
Division II
Group A The tournament was held in Istanbul, Türkiye, from 19 to 25 January 2026.
Group B The tournament was held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 26 January to 1 February 2026.
Division III
The tournament was to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 29 January to 4 February 2026, but it was cancelled. Organizers stated that they could not proceed with the tournament in order to protect the "safety and best interests of the athletes."
References
External links Official website of IIHF