Ice hockey tournaments

The 2018 Olympic Winter Games will take place in PyeongChang, Korea, from 9 until 25 February 2018.

The men’s and women’s ice hockey tournaments are scheduled to take place at venues in the city of Gangneung. Korea as the host nation will be qualified for both the men’s and women’s tournaments. It is important to note that for the 2018 Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament the top-8 nations of the 2015 IIHF Men’s World Ranking will be automatically qualified and seeded according to the ranking. The three qualifiers will be determined in the three stages of the Olympic Qualification starting in the 2015/2016 season according to the schematic below.

Moreover, the 2018 Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament will be played according to the same format used in 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.

Olympics greeetings from Slovenia until then!

Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports