The 1999 Women's World Championships in Espoo, Finland had added drama due to the Winter Olympic games in Nagano, Japan the previous year. In the gold medal game at the Olympics, the two titans of women's hockey, Canada and the United States of America battled it out, and the Americans emerged victorious. It was a very bitter pill to swallow for the Canadian team who had never previously lost.

The 1999 Championships would play out with both Canada and the United States easily disposing of their foes and meeting up once again in the gold medal game. While Canada had won all previous World Championships, and did so without losing a single game along the way; (assembling and amazing 24-0 record heading into the gold medal game,) it meant little with the recent Olympic upset weighing on their shoulders. After a scoreless first period where the United States outshot the Canadians almost two to one, USA's Jenny Schmidgall, (the tournament's point leader) scored halfway through the second period putting the States on top. Perhaps the balance of power was shifting in women's hockey? But the Canadians dug deep, and rookie Caroline Ouelette scored a little over two minutes later to draw the Canadians even. The teams entered the third period tied, but it didn't stay that way for long. The overtime hero from the 1997 Championship, Danielle Goyette converted just 25 seconds in, and Geraldine Heaney found the mark shortly after to put Canada up 3-1; a lead they would not relinquish.

For Canada, it was their fifth-straight World Championship title; one made even sweeter by the loss at the Olympics. The host Finnish squad took the bronze medal for the fifth straight tournament. Canadian Sami Jo Small was named the top goalkeeper, while American Jenny Schmidgall was the top forward and Finland's Kirsi Hänninen the top defender.