The World Women's Under 18 Championship in HarborCenter features teams from eight different nations.
The tournament runs until the Gold Medal game on Monday but there were some real fights yesterday, especially the hard-fought and sold out match between the U.S. and Canada, two teams with a history of winning this tournament. There was a less-visible match between Russia and the Czech Republic with some history of their own.
Dan Hickling said the two North American teams are favored. Hickling said it's good for women's hockey for the other teams to do well.
"You always want to know how you stack up against the rest of the world even if you have the most-developed programs. But, by the same token, it's kind of the responsibility of the US and Canada to help bring the other nations along too," Hickling said.
"Otherwise, it's just a two-nation universe and that doesn't help anybody either. So, the more time they are able to invest in the Swedens, the Finlands, the Russians, the Japanese, even the Chinese, the better that helps develop those programs along. So, ultimately that's very good for women's hockey."
Hickling said he's watched the development of women's hockey since the first women's tournament in 1990 from his post with U.S. College Hockey on line. He noted the teams are better and there are more of them and there is more support from national and international hockey agencies.
