The 1994 IIHF Women's World Championships was held April 11–17, 1994, at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York, in the United States. The Team Canada won their third consecutive gold medal at the World Championships defeating the United States. Finland picked up their third consecutive bronze medal, with a win over semifinal debutants, China.

Erin Hamlen née Whitten is an American retired ice hockey goaltender and the current head coach of the Merrimack Warriors women's ice hockey program in the Hockey East (HEA) conference of the NCAA Division I. She was among the first women to play professional ice hockey and, on October 30, 1993, she became the first woman to earn a victory in a professional hockey game as a goaltender, in the Toledo Storm's 6–5 win over the Dayton Bombers in the East Coast Hockey League. As a member of the U.S. national team, she competed in and won silver medals at four IIHF Women's World Championships. She was USA Hockey Women's Player of the Year in 1994.