Women had to wait for over 70 years until a female tournament was added to the programme at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a rubber puck into their opponent's net to score goals.

The sport is known to be fast-paced and physical, with teams usually fielding six players at a time: one goaltender, and five players who skate the span of the ice trying to control the puck and score goals against the opposing team.