ZURICH – Although Canada didn’t defend its IIHF World Women Championship title in Harbin, China, last Saturday, the defending Olympic champion from Turin 2006, still tops the 2008 IIHF World Ranking, ahead of new IIHF World Champion, the United States.

This means that Canada will be the top seed going to the women’s tournament at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.

Click here for the final 2008 World Women’s Ranking, which lists all 33 national teams participating the IIHF’s World Women's Program. There was a swap in the 3 and 4 positions, as Finland overtook rival Sweden for the third ranking position.

It is the 2008 IIHF World Ranking that determines which teams qualify automatically to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and also how the teams will be seeded going into Vancouver 2010.

Following the 4-3 Gold Medal game loss and the silver medals, Canada is still World Ranked No. 1 with 2950 points, but they now enjoy only a slim 20 point margin ahead of the United States, which has 2930.

The first six teams in the IIHF World Women’s Ranking are automatically qualified to the eight-team women’s Olympic tournament in Vancouver 2010;

1. Canada 2950
2. United States 2930
3. Finland 2770
4. Sweden 2760
5. Switzerland 2645
6. Russia 2575  

Pre-Olympic qualifications (in September 2008) and final Olympic qualifications (November 2008) will determine which two teams will take Olympic spots 7 and 8 for Vancouver 2010.