Women’s Hockey World Championship rescheduled for late August

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 22: Hilary Knight #21 of the United States celebrates after scoring a powerplay goal against Canada in the first period during the Women's Gold Medal Game on day thirteen of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Hockey Centre on February 22, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

After being cancelled twice due to COVID-19 concerns, the 2021 Women’s World Championship will now be held from Aug. 20-31.

The tournament is expected to take place in Canada, though the exact location has yet to be revealed.

The announcement by the IIHF and Hockey Canada comes just one week after the world championships, set to take place in Nova Scotia from May 6-16, were called off due to an uptick in COVID-19 cases in the region.

Team USA star Kendall Coyne Schofield took to Twitter after last week’s cancellation to express her disappointment with the IIHF, specifically in the governing body’s lack of contingency planning. She was just one of several players to publicly criticize the result.

We Deserve To Compete In The World Championships... pic.twitter.com/AnNfDSZ428
— Kendall Coyne Schofield (@KendallCoyne) April 22, 2021

The rescheduling will be seen by some as a small step in the right direction, as players felt the IIHF’s planing failures signaled a lack of investment in the women’s game.

If the new dates hold, this will be the first women’s hockey world championship played since 2019.