The logo for the forthcoming Championships has been designed by Finland's own star forward Michelle Karvinen ©IIHF

The game schedule for the 2019 Women's Ice Hockey World Championship in Espoo has been released, along with the Championship logo designed by Finnish national team forward Michelle Karvinen.

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) tournament in the second-largest city of Finland, located about 19 kilometres west of Helsinki, will be the first Women's World Championship with 10 teams following the additions of Japan and France.

The tournament is due to be played from April 4 to 14 at the Metro Arena.

Of the 29 games, 23 will be played at the main arena with a capacity for 6,982 fans, while six will be played at the secondary rink.

As previously with eight teams, the tournament will be played in two tiered groups.

Defending champions United States, Canada, Finland, Russia and Switzerland will be in the "upper" Group A and will battle for a good placing before the final round.

They will be joined in the quarter-finals by the best three teams from Group B which features the lower-seeded teams - Sweden, Japan, Germany, Czech Republic and France.

The two bottom-ranked teams in Group B will be relegated but are scheduled to play a classification game on April 11.

Finland's Pyeongchang 2018 top scorer Michelle Karvinen, pictured with the trophy, has designed the logo for next year's IIHF Women's World Championships in Espoo ©IIHF
Finland's Pyeongchang 2018 top scorer Michelle Karvinen, pictured with the trophy, has designed the logo for next year's IIHF Women's World Championships in Espoo ©IIHF

The quarter-finals will be played on April 11, with the semi-finals and medal games scheduled for the weekend of April 13 and 14.

The hosts will officially open the tournament on the first evening against the US, the current Olympic champions.

The logo of the Championship has the unique distinction of being created by a player likely to be competing in the event.

Karvinen, who has played in three Olympic Winter Games, top-scoring for Finland at Pyeongchang 2018 in February, has previously studied graphic design.

In the logo she honours her teammate Riikka Valila, a Finnish legend and the first European female player to be inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2009.

After retiring from ice hockey, Valila made a comeback and continues to play at club level and on the Finnish national team at the age of 45.

Her number 13 is now reflected in the shadow formed by the female player's figure.

Other elements of the logo feature national colours of Finland, Finnish nature and the thousands of lakes in the country.

The full schedule can be found here.