 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |  Canada |
| Venue(s) | 2 (in 2 host cities) |
| Dates | March 30 – April 6, 2004 |
| Opened by | Adrienne Clarkson |
| Teams | 9 |
| Final positions | |
Champions  | Canada (8th title) |
Runner-up  |  United States |
Third place  |  Finland |
| Fourth place |  Sweden |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Games played | 20 |
| Goals scored | 129 (6.45 per game) |
| Attendance | 89,461 (4,473 per game) |
| Scoring leader(s) | Jennifer Botterill (11 points) |
| MVP | Jennifer Botterill |
The 2004 IIHF World Women's Championships were held March 30 – April 6, 2004 in Halifax and Dartmouth, Canada at the Halifax Metro Centre (now known as Scotiabank Centre), and the Dartmouth Sportsplex (now known as Zatzman Sportsplex). The Canadian national women's hockey team won their eighth straight World Championships. The event had 9 teams, because the 2003 event was cancelled due to the SARS epidemic, therefore no teams were relegated and the winners of the 2002 and 2003 Division I tournaments qualified. Canada won their 37th consecutive World Championship game before losing 3–1 in their third game. They later avenged their loss to the US by defeating them in the gold medal game 2–1. Sweden and Finland also met each other twice, with Finland winning the bronze medal game 3–2 improving on the earlier draw.
In addition to being the qualifications for the 2005 world tournaments, this year also finalized the qualification for the 2006 Winter Olympics.