World domination or a dynasty, call it what you will. Since the first IIHF World Women’s Championship held in Ottawa, ON in 1990, Canada has enjoyed incredible success in women's hockey on the international stage.

It was the IIHF World Women’s Championship that first gave women's hockey an identity, and Canada has forever linked itself to that identity by winning the first eight world championship gold medals (1990, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004) and added their ninth world title in ten tries in 2007 in front of a home crowd in Winnipeg, MB.

While Canada has led the way in women's hockey, archrival USA has provided constant pressure. The Americans reminded Canada they were not the only world power by winning the first Olympic gold in women's hockey, in 1998 in Nagano, Japan. The National Women’s Team returned the favour four years later in Salt Lake City, defeating the Americans on their home ice to win Canada’s first Olympic gold medal in women's hockey. Canada repeated their gold medal performance in 2006 in Turin, Italy, winning a second consecutive Olympic title.

In addition to their successes at the IIHF World Women’s Championship and the Olympics, Canada’s National Women’s Team has won 12 of the 14 3 Nations/4 Nations Cups (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007), and both Pacific Rim Championships (1995, 1996).

The on-ice success of the National Women’s Team has buoyed registration numbers across the country for female hockey, which have skyrocketed in the last decade, more than doubling.

In 1990, there were 8,146 girls and women playing hockey on 517 teams in Canada. By 1995-96, close to 24,000 female hockey players registered from novice to senior and ten years later, in 2005-06, more than 69,000 women were registered across Canada, showing that the popularity of women’s hockey is still on the rise.