The town of Dumfries, Scotland will host the the 2025 Women’s World Championship Division I Group B.
As Great Britain has found, the third tier of women’s hockey is hugely competitive. The host nation will be looking to make it third-time lucky after missing out on a medal in 2024.
Since being promoted to this level in 2022, Great Britain has finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Defender Ellin Rees certainly thinks the current group has what it takes. – “We were unlucky not to get a medal last time [2024]. I think that with the group of girls we have and the coaching staff, we’ll do great this year.”
The group is composed of Korea (18th in world rankings), Italy (19), Great Britain (21), Slovenia (22), Kazakhstan (23) and Latvia (27).
The rankings suggest Great Britain has a legitimate shot at winning a medal and possibly more but no game will be easy as Rees intimated in a recent interview. “I’d probably say Italy [are the favourites] with them qualifying for the upcoming Olympics. They are a pretty strong team, but it could go any way with every team.”
Korea is the strongest team on paper having been relegated in 2024.
They lost all five games at the level above and were outscored 24-1.
However, in 2023 they were promoted by winning five of five and are always a nation to be feared. Twenty-one-year-old Sihyun Kang plays in NCAA III for Norwich and is certain to be a part of a very young roster.
Italy is a nation on the rise and I don’t disagree with Ellin Rees that they will be the benchmark to aim at. They have won bronze at the last three tournaments and look well set to make a run at the gold medal and promotion.
The roster will feature players from across top European leagues including HockeyAllsvenskan, Swiss Women’s League and European Women’s Hockey League. Players to watch will be the likes of goaltender Martina Fedel (Univ. of Guelph/Usports), defender Nadia Mattivi of Luleå HF (formerly NCAA) and forwards Anna Caumo (Franklin Pierce/NCAA) and
Marta Mazzocchi (Trinity College/NCAA III).
Slovenia has switched places in the standings with Great Britain through the last two tournaments finishing 4th and most recently 5th. They will doubtless rely heavily on goaltender Pia Dukaric from Yale University (NCAA).
Kazakhstan takes the step up to the third tier after comprehensively winning promotion with a perfect record.
The majority of their rosters play in the native league and the only exceptions compete in the European Women’s Hockey League.
Latvia is the lowest seed in the group but should not be considered anything of the sort. They won silver in 2024 after being promoted in 2023.
With an average age of 22 in the last campaign expect more of the same as Latvia attempts to build a team to compete at a higher level for years to come. The player who stands out is forward Linda Rulle (20yo) who plays in the NCAA for Rochester IOT.
There is more than hope for Great Britain to take the next step as they’ve proven to be hugely competitive at this level.
Every game in 2024 was decided by a solitary goal bar the 7-1 loss to gold-winning Slovakia.
Wins against Italy (1-0) and Slovenia (2-1) and narrow losses to Poland (2-3 OT) and Lavia (2-3) ended with a fourth-place finish and narrowly missing out on a medal.
It was a similar story in 2023 albeit with fewer points earned as the majority of the results went against them.
Great Britain’s roster has a nice mix of youth and experience with an average age of 25. Many of the younger members are now tasting their third or fourth international senior tournament and will be looking to build upon an Olympic qualifying tournament which fell just short.
The goaltending is in excellent shape with the tandem of the experienced hand Nicole Jackson and young starlet Ella Howard, who was excellent in her last tournament appearance for the nation.
Defence is nicely balanced between youth and experience. The youngsters currently plying their trade overseas include Ellin Rees, Lucy Beal and Chloe Needham-Potts. All three will be looking to make their mark.
At forward is where GB has the most experience. The exciting Ruby Newlands is the only teenager in the group with Chamonix Jackson and Ellie Wallace the next youngest at 21. Reliable producers Jodie Alderson-Smith, Kathryn Marsden, Laura Horwood and Katherine Gale will be leaned on but Great Britain will also be hoping for more offence from the blue line.
With Mike Clancy having stepped down the coaching staff will have a new look to it and that’s not always a negative.
Sean Alderson, who led GB Under-18 Women to the gold medal and promotion in January, will take interim charge as Head Coach. He previously spent three years as Assistant Coach of GB Women and was part of the coaching staff for the gold medal-winning team in Spain in 2022.
The two new Assistant Coaches Dave Clancy is a familiar name to GB hockey and he takes up one of the Assistant Coaching positions.
Joining him is Beth Hanrahan, a fascinating hire from the NCAA ranks. As a player, Hanrahan played NCAA with Providence College and one year in the NWHL for the New York Riveters. The Maryland native turned immediately to NCAA coaching and held an assistant role with Mercyhurst before switching to Brown University. This will be her first taste of international hockey.
The schedule is not particularly kind to the hosts as they face last year’s silver medallist on game day one and the paper favourites the following day.
It could turn out to be a blessing in disguise as there have been perceived upsets early in tournaments and it’s sometimes optimal to catch teams cold.
WED APRIL 09:
13:00 Kazakhstan vs. Korea
16:30 Slovenia vs. Italy
20:00 Great Britain vs. Latvia
THU APRIL 10:
13:00 Italy vs. Kazakhstan
16:30 Latvia vs. Slovenia
20:00 Korea vs. Great Britain
SAT APRIL 12:
13:00 Korea vs. Slovenia
16:30 Latvia vs. Italy
20:00 Kazakhstan vs. Great Britain
SUN APRIL 13:
13:00 Italy vs. Korea
16:30 Latvia vs. Kazakhstan
20:00 Great Britain vs. Slovenia
TUE APRIL 15:
13:00 Slovenia vs. Kazakhstan
16:30 Korea vs. Latvia
20:00 Italy vs. Great Britain
If you’re thinking about attending the tournament, it’s been attractively priced whether for one day or the entirety.
Week Pass (all 15 games) £30
Weekend Pass (6 games) £15
Day Pass (3 games) £10
Under-16s are admitted free with a paying adult.
Entrance is free to all games that face off at 13:00 throughout the tournament.
I’ll be attending the tournament in person, so please subscribe to receive email updates when articles are published. Alternatively, follow along on my social media channels where updates and links to articles will be posted.
Coverage will include game recaps, post-game interviews and chats with players (if possible).
Please check out an interview with defender Ellin Rees ahead of the tournament https://wp.me/p2gDti-1Fp
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