2004 IIHF Women's World Championship

The 2004 IIHF World Women's Championships were held March 30-April 6, 2004 in Halifax and Dartmouth, Canada. Canada won their eighth straight World Championships. The event had 9 teams, because the 2003 event was cancelled due to the SARS epidemic, therefore the winners of the 2002 and 2003 Division I tournaments qualified. Canada won their 37th consecutive World Championship game before losing three to one in their third game. They later avenged their loss to the USA by defeating them in the Gold Medal game two to zero. Sweden and Finland also met each other twice, with Finland winning the Bronze Medal game three to two improving on the earlier draw.

In addition to being the qualifications for the 2005 world tournaments, this year also finalized the qualification for the Torino Olympics.

Group A
Results:
 * March 30: 0-11
 * March 31: 4-2
 * April 1: 13-0

Group B
Results:
 * March 30: 1-9
 * March 31: 2-1
 * April 1: 8-0

Group C
Results:
 * March 30: 2-8
 * March 31: 1-0
 * April 1:  2-2

Group D (1-3 Place)
Results:
 * April 3: 1-3
 * April 4: 1-7
 * April 5: 9-2

Group E (4-6 Place)
Results:
 * April 3: 2-4
 * April 4: 4-0
 * April 5: 1-2

Group F (7-9 Place)
Results:
 * April 3: 6-4
 * April 4: 2-5
 * April 5: 4-0

Finals
All finals on April 6
 * Gold medal final: 0-2
 * Bronze medal final: 3-2

 and are demoted to Division I at the 2005 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships

Division I
The Division I IIHF World Women's Championships were held March 14–20, 2004 in Ventspils, Latvia

 is promoted to the 2005 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships, and  are demoted to Division II

Division II
The Division II IIHF World Women's Championships will be held March 14–20, 2004 in Sterzing, Italy

 is promoted to Division I while and  are demoted to Division III in the 2005 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships

Division III
The Division III IIHF Women World Championships were held March 21–28, 2004 in Maribor, Slovenia.

 was promoted to Division II at the 2005 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships, while both and  were relegated to the newly formed Division IV.