2012 IIHF Women's World Championship

The 2012 IIHF World Women's Championships was the 14th such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The competition also served as qualifications for the 2013 competition, and the 2014 Olympics.

Canada won their tenth title by defeating the United States 5–4 in overtime. Caroline Ouellette scored the decisive goal. The Swiss team, by finishing third, captured their first ever Women's World Championship medal.

Top Division
The Top Division was contested between eight teams from April 7 to April 14, 2012. The event was hosted by USA Hockey in Burlington, Vermont. A new format was used where the top four ranked teams were placed in Group A and were automatically qualified for the final round, and played in the preliminary round was only used to determine seeding for the next round. The top two teams received a bye into the semifinals. Meanwhile, the next four teams played the preliminary round in Group B. The top two teams from Group B joined the others for the final round, while the bottom two team played a best-of-three series, with the loser being relegated next year.

Group A

Group B
 * — promoted to Top Division pool for 2012
 * — promoted to Top Division pool for 2012
 * — promoted to Top Division pool for 2012
 * — promoted to Top Division pool for 2012

Group A
All times are local (UTC−4).

Group B
All times are local (UTC−4).

Relegation series
Best of three.

All times are local (UTC−4).


 * The third game of the relegation series was cancelled because Germany won both meetings and Slovakia is therefore relegated.

Final round
All times are local (UTC−4).

Division I A
The Division I A tournament was played in Ventspils, Latvia, from 25 to 31 March 2012.


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Division I B
The Division I B tournament was played in Hull, Great Britain, from 9 to 15 April 2012.


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Division II A
The Division II A tournament was played in Maribor, Slovenia, from 25 to 31 March 2012.


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Division II B
The Division II B tournament was played in Seoul, South Korea, from 10 to 16 March 2012.


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