2014 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships
The 2014 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships were the 17th such series of tournaments organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation. This was the first time that the women's tournaments were played in an Olympic year. The IIHF determined that the best way to continue advancing the competitive level of nations not invited to the Olympic tournament was to fund participation every year. No Top Division tournament was played, and initially the IIHF stated that the last-placed Olympic participant would be relegated to be replaced by the Division I Group A winner. However after discussion it was changed so that the two teams in question played best of three series instead of simply swapping places.
Top Division playoff
The last-placed team of the 2014 Olympics faced the winner of the 2014 Division I A tournament in a best-of-three series. The winners, Japan, were promoted to the 2015 Top Division. The event took place in Yokohama, Japan, from 8 to 11 November 2014.''All times are local ''