Qualification Tournaments To Decide Final Three Olympic Spots

Hockey is slowly making its way back as the European hockey season is nearing. First up – the Olympic Qualification tournaments in Slovakia, Riga, and Oslo where the final tickets to the 2022 Winter Olympics will be handed out to the winners of each group.

Although it’s unclear if NHL players will be allowed to participate in the 2022 Olympics in China, there are plenty of familiar surnames that have arrived to help their countries qualify for the event. Norway has Mats Zuccarello, Latvia has Zemgus Girgensons, Rudolfs Balcers, and Teddy Blueger. Uncertainty for them doesn’t mean that they can’t or won’t help to make sure that the hockey fans of the countries that they represent have something to cheer for once the big event begins.

Countries that have already qualified:

Group A: Canada, USA, Germany, China
Group B: Russian Olympic Committee, Czech Republic, Switzerland + a qualifier
Group C: Finland, Sweden + two qualifiers

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Qualification tournament teams

Group D will be battle it out for a single ticket to the Olympics. Fair to say that this one might be the strongest of all three groups. The games will be played in Bratislava Slovakia and teams that will play there are – Slovakia, Belarus, Austria, and Poland.

Group E games will be played in Riga Latvia – the host city of the 2021 IIHF World Championships and the Latvian side is amongst the favorites and will be motivated to show their fans what they are capable of after a very disappointing World Championship performance. Group E consists of Latvia, France, Italy, and Hungary.

Group F on the other hand is going to be the most interesting one as it appears to be wide open for anyone to grab the final spot at the Olympics. Oslo Norway will hold the tournament for the hosts Norway, Denmark, Korea, and Slovenia.

The 2022 Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament will be played according to the same format used in PyeongChang 2018, Sochi 2014, and Vancouver 2010 with three groups of four teams each. The best four teams from an overall 12-team ranking – the group winners and the second-ranked team with the best record – will advance to the quarter-finals while the other teams will play a qualification playoff game.