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Scheduling and postponements
Originally scheduled from 7 to 17 April, the tournament was postponed to 6 to 16 May 2021 on 4 March, at the request of the government of Nova Scotia. At the time of postponement, neither Health Canada nor the Chief Medical Officer of Nova Scotia, Dr. Robert Strang, had officially approved of the safety measures and medical plan proposed for the tournament. Concerns were raised in early April as the tournament remained unapproved by federal and provincial health authorities, however local officials and national organizations involved expressed confidence that the tournament would be held as scheduled.

Strang provided details about the measures that would be in place for the tournament at a press briefing held on 13 April, which included a mandatory, fourteen day individual and team quarantine schedule upon team arrival in Canada, a minimum of seven virus tests while in Nova Scotia, and the use of wearable tracking technology to "monitor quarantine compliance and allow for contact tracing." He expressed confidence in the measures, stating the "tournament in my opinion, does not present a risk of bringing COVID and transmitting it to Nova Scotia," though he underscored the absolute willingness of the provincial government to cancel the tournament at any time, adding "... we will adjust as necessary, like we did a year ago when we actually, on short notice, actually cancelled the same tournament."

On 17 April, Bob Corkum stepped down from his position as head coach of the US women's team because he "was not comfortable with the protocols" in place for the tournament. Corkum did not elaborate on what protocols he found issue with and it remained unclear if he found the plans lacking or too restrictive.

On 21 April, the province of Nova Scotia informed Hockey Canada and the IIHF that the tournament had been cancelled at the recommendation of Premier Iain Rankin "due to concerns over safety risks associated with COVID-19." The IIHF and Hockey Canada released a joint statement pledging to explore all avenues for hosting the event in a different Canadian city and suggested that the tournament would likely be rescheduled to the summer of 2021. In aIIHF President René Fasel emphasized, "This is very disappointing news to receive with just a few weeks until the tournament was to begin. We strongly believe that we had the adequate safety measures in place to protect players, officials, spectators, and all residents in Halifax and Truro, based on the IIHF and Hockey Canada’s experiences from hosting the IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton [during December 2020 and January 2021]."

Truro mayor Bill Mills affirmed that the cancellation was "the right decision, as much as I don't like it" and expressed a hope that the city might be reconsidered as a host for the event in the next several years. However, IIHF Vice President Kalervo Kummola called the decision to cancel just a day before the nine international teams were expected to arrive "beyond belief and unprecedented" and made it clear that Nova Scotia is not likely to be considered as a host for any IIHF events for "quite a while."

Surprise and disappointment dominated initial reactions to the announcement. Gina Kingsbury, director of Hockey Canada's women's teams, described the response of the Canadian delegation as "[a] little disbelief, a little shock and a lot of emotion." Head coach of the Hungarian national team, Lisa Haley, called the experience "gut-wrenching"  takingIn the IIHF official  National team players and coaches    national  to the cancellation Immediately following the announcement,

The cancellation underscored a perception of many involved in the sport that the IIHF does not have a genuine commitment to or valuation of international women’s ice hockey in comparison to the men's game, as characterized by Czech goaltender Klára Peslarová tweet, "No chance this gets cancelled if it were the Men's Worlds...." Many players expressed frustration that the top division tournaments of the men's worlds championship While most head coaches

Czech–Tomáš Pacina

Finland–Mustonen

Hungary–Haley

Reaction

Knight, Kaplan

Müller

Olympic implications

in Canada, probably August Interested hosts:


 * Ottawa
 * Frisco, Texas, US
 * Finland