Men's Ice Hockey Tournament at the Winter Olympic Games Beijing 2022

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Six teams, three Olympic spots

 

A record number of 45 countries entered their teams with the hope to compete at the 2022 Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament in Beijing with the top-8 countries plus host China qualified directly.

That means three spots remained open for 36 countries going through the Olympic Qualification. Only 12 of them were left this week when the Final Olympic Qualification started. On the last day it’s just six teams remaining in contention for the three spots.
 

GROUP D

In Bratislava host Slovakia is the only undefeated team and will only need one point from the last game against Belarus to finish first, thus a regulation-time tie will already be enough to qualify for the Olympics.

If Belarus beats Slovakia in regulation time but Poland doesn’t against Austria, Belarus will advance to Beijing 2022.

If both Belarus (vs. Slovakia) and Poland (vs. Austria) win in regulation time, a three-way tie of these teams with Slovakia will be created. Since the teams will also be tied in head-to-head points, the goal difference will be the next tie-breaker. Slovakia has a +4 goal difference ahead of the game while Belarus is at -1, which means Belarus would in this case have to win with a margin of three goals or more while Poland (-3) is out of contention for first place.

Slovakia will play Belarus on Sunday at 17:30 local team. Click here for the stream.

 

 

The situation in the other groups looks easier with two undefeated teams facing in each other both in Riga and in Oslo.
 

GROUP E

 

In Riga host Latvia leads the standings with two wins and an impressive 15-0 goal record while France has also been undefeated with 7-3 goals. It will be a winner-takes-it-all clash between the two countries. Even though Latvia may enter the game as a favourite on paper, the Latvians will be careful with this role having lost the last Olympic Qualification tournament at Arena Riga to another opponent from the west, Germany, which eventually ended up as Olympic silver medallists in PyeongChang 2018.

Latvia will play France on Sunday at at 17:00 local time (16:00 CET). Click here for the stream

 

 

GROUP F

The situation is similar in Oslo where host Norway and Denmark have been undefeated with the Danes leading the group thanks to their better goal difference. Norway aims to use home-ice advantage and play at the Olympics for the fourth consecutive time.

The Danes on the other hand hope to make it to the Olympics for the first time ever. Six NHL players on the roster will help the Danes to overcome the curse but the red-and-white team has failed to qualify in similar situation in past Olympic Qualification tournaments and will be happy to end the curse.

Norway plays Denmark in Oslo on Sunday at 16:00. Click here for the stream.

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ROAD TO BEIJING 2022

 

Slovakia & Belarus ready to battle

 

 

Heading into the final day of play in Group D of the Men’s Final Olympic Qualification Tournament, there are two teams still in the race and they face off against each other, but the playing field isn’t level. The Slovaks, playing on their home ice, need just one point to punch their ticket to Beijing. Belarus, on the other hand, will need to win in regulation time.

 

How the teams got here

 

The Slovaks are in the driver’s seat after taking the maximum six points from their first two games. While they had a decisive edge in play in both games, they beat Austria 2-1 and then only led Poland 1-0 after one period before finally starting to produce in period two and eventually winning 5-1.

 

Head coach Craig Ramsay wasn’t pleased by his team’s execution over its first four periods of play, trying to make fancy plays rather than keeping it simple.

 

“You can never expect it to be an easy game,” he said after beating Poland. “If you do, it will always be a long, challenging night. If you don't score goals easily, you get tougher right away. In the end, we were able to score a few goals today.”

Belarus had a similar problem in its first game against Poland and, despite dominating 46-18 in shots, lost 1-0. Then, after falling behind 2-0 in the first period against Austria, the Belarusians were in a desperate situation and scored five second period goals to win 5-2.

 

“I didn’t shout at the guys. I just calmly told them that they represented their country and they had to represent it correctly,” Belarusian head coach Craig Woodcroft said about the first intermission of the Austria game. “I also said that they are all very strong players, they are also strong in heart, and it is that heart that must lead us now. There is no room for excuses, everyone is well prepared and obliged to take on the role of leader.”

 

Slovakia has the only three players in the tournament with more than two points – defenceman Peter Ceresnak with four and forward Libor Hudacek and defenceman Martin Gernat with three each. After being held off the scoresheet entirely their first four periods, Belarus got two points each from captain Yegor Sharangovich, Shane Prince, Andrei Stas and Nikita Komarov.

Bronislav Konrad of Slovakia and Danny Taylor of Belarus have played both games for their teams so far and are expected to get the call in goal again on Sunday.

 

History

 

The Belarusians look to return to the Olympics for the first time since 2010, which was their third appearance. The Slovaks are looking to avoid missing for the first time since first qualifying in 1994.

 

Both teams’ best-ever Olympic finish was fourth place – Belarus in 2002 in Salt Lake City following a huge upset over Sweden in the quarter-finals and Slovakia in 2010 in Vancouver after a significantly lesser upset over Sweden in the quarter-finals.

 

The two teams have largely the same rosters as the ones who faced off on the opening day of the 2021 Ice Hockey World Championship at the Olympic Sports Centre in Riga, Latvia. In that game, Kristian Pospisil and Peter Cehlarik each scored twice in a 5-2 Slovakia victory. With three points in the game, it was the start of a big tournament for Cehlarik, who finished with 11 points and was named the tournament’s Best Forward.

 

Konrad stopped 32 of 34 shots in the Slovak goal, while Taylor entered the game in relief for Belarus with his team down 3-0 and stopped 25 of 26.

 

“We were two teams,” Ramsay said after that game in a familiar refrain. “One that was aggressive at the start. We chased and we attacked and our power play was really effective. Then when we started to get fancy, we made some funny plays and gave up a lot of chances but fortunately our goaltender was really good.”

 

Sharangovich, the newly appointed Belarus captain fresh off his rookie campaign with the New Jersey Devils, scored his team’s second goal on a breakaway but he could have had a couple more. In the second period, an apparent goal he scored was waved off due to goalie interference and in the last minute, with his team down a pair, he was given a penalty shot but was denied by Konrad.

On being captain of a team that’s mostly older than him, Sharangovich recently said: “I feel like I’m more of a captain on the ice, but more experienced guys like (alternate captains) Stas and (Nick) Bailen are responsible for the atmosphere in the locker room. They have the words that can motivate the team. In the locker room, I’m pretty quiet.”

 

The two teams went in very different directions that tournament, with Slovakia qualifying for the quarter-finals for the first time since 2013 while Belarus finished last in Group A with four points.

 

That was just three months ago. Now, Slovakia looks to continue trending upward while Belarus aims to get back on track. 

 

The game at hand

 

While Slovakia is the definite favourite to qualify, due to both the skill level of the teams and the fact that they only need to get the game to overtime, both teams are well aware that this could go either way.

 

“This comeback means a lot to the team, but we still have a lot of work to do,” said Woodcroft, looking ahead to Slovakia. “We will study them honestly. They will definitely be a good and difficult opponent. We’ll be ready. I’m not gonna say any more about that.”

“The main thing is to go out and play as a team, to strike with one fist, to play the active, aggressive hockey that Craig [Woodcroft] preaches,” said Sharangovich. “When we stick to our system, we will get the kind of chances that we saw in the second period today.”

 

“Against Belarus, we have to stick to our system, play well with the puck, and as soon as we get the puck, we go right to the attack,” said Ramsay. “We have to focus on our game. When we do that, we’re able to make it difficult for any opponent.”

 

“It will be difficult against Belarus,” said Ceresnak. “We will definitely sit down and study their game. It will be a fight for everything, so we have to be 100 per cent ready for it. We found out that we can score goals, so I hope that it’ll also happen against Belarus.”

The last word goes to Belarusian forward Alexei Protas who confidently stated: “I don’t think we will lose. Everyone understands how important the next game is. We’re ready to play our best hockey.”

 

IIHF.COM

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ROAD TO BEIJING 2022

 

Riga ready for 2013 repeat

 

 

We’ve been here before. In 2013, Riga was the venue as Latvia played France for a place at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

On that occasion, the equation was complicated by Team Kazakhstan, which defeated France in the opening game before falling to Latvia. The final reckoning had three teams with a chance of qualifying: a point against the French would be enough for Latvia, a two-goal win would send France to Sochi. A one-goal French victory, though, would give Kazakhstan an Olympic place.

A capacity crowd packed into Arena Riga, most of them hoping to see Latvia qualify for the Games for the fourth time in a row. France, bidding for a first Olympics since 2002, had other ideas. Damien Fleury, back here in 2021 as captain of Les Bleus, opened the scoring on a third-minute power play; Laurent Meunier extended the lead late in the first period. Suddenly, with a two-goal advantage, the French had one foot on the plane to Sochi and Latvia was facing Madame Guillotine.

That passionate home crowd was anxious. Their heroes had chances, but twice failed to beat Cristobal Huet on the power play and the French defence remained strong throughout the second period. But, with the pressure building on the home team, a moment of magic from Lauris Darzins changed everything. At the time, he was a 28-year-old star of the KHL and he finished this tournament as Latvia’s leading scorer. But the individual effort he produced five minutes before the end of the second period was his biggest moment, collecting the puck in his own zone and streaking off to the races before faking a shot and beating Huet – at last – with a wrister. Latvia’s ebullient head coach Ted Nolan described it as “an NHL goal” in the post-game press conference.

The 2-1 scoreline was welcomed in Kazakhstan, but no good to either team on the ice. Then the first shift of the third period gave Latvia what it needed. Darzins was involved again, firing in a shot that Huet blocked only for Martins Karsums to put away the rebound.

Then it was game management time. France needed two goals; Latvia allowed just six shots at Edgars Masalskis. An overtime winner for Pierre-Eduard Bellemare was scant consolation for the French as the home crowd celebrated a defeat that felt like a victory.

Eight years on ...

Since that day in February 2013, both nations have undergone a change of generations. However, for the French, the memory of simultaneously winning and losing still stings. Sacha Treille played in that game, and he’s ready to do everything to rewrite the script this time around.

“It’s a different scenario from last time,” he said after his goals saw Les Bleus to a 2-0 win over Italy. “We know that a win, even in overtime, will be enough.

“We’ll go into this game as if it was our last. There’s an enormous hunger. We know the arena will be full, but that just motivates us even more. We have to cut out any errors, everyone has to play his best hockey. Then we have a chance.”

French head coach Philippe Bozon is also looking forward to the challenge of taking his country to its first Games since 2002, when he was on the team in Salt Lake City.

“Everyone’s well motivated,” he said after that 2-0 win over Italy. “We knew what the challenge was going to be, we wanted to be in this position on Sunday and we’re right there. We are 60, maybe 65 minutes away from what we want.”

Latvia’s proud run of Olympic appearances was halted four years ago when Germany got the verdict in the final qualification round in Riga. Since then, a new generation has emerged to lead the national team – and they are desperate to make it to Beijing.

“This is huge,” said Rudolfs Balcers, who was a 15-year-old playing junior hockey in Norway when Latvia got past France in 2013. “There’s one mission for us. We’re playing at home and we have a goal to win and go to the Olympics.

“We’re trying to get better here every day and it’s going to be a huge one against France.”

Latvian head coach Harijs Vitolins has plenty of Olympic history: in 2018 he was an assistant coach on the golden OAR roster, having earlier served a similar role on Latvia’s 2006 and 2010 teams. Unexpectedly catapulted into the hot seat a month before this tournament, he believes France poses the biggest threat to a side that has yet to allow a goal in Riga this week.

“The pick of the French team is its NHL trio, plus they also have players from Switzerland’s top league,” Vitolins said. “They themselves say that this is the last chance for their strongest roster [to go to the Olympics].

“We’ve seen that they have a good power play, so we need to play with the same discipline we showed [against Hungary], where we never had to use our penalty kill.

“We’ll spend Saturday looking at the details that need some attention. We have a bit of time to look at everything and decide on our tactics against France.”

 

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ROAD TO BEIJING 2022

 

It’s Norway vs. Denmark for an Olympic prize

 

 

The Norwegians took care of business on home ice in Olso, defeating Slovenia for their second win to set up a finale against Denmark with everything on the line at the Final Olympic Qualification Group F.

“Ever since my first game playing with the national team we’ve always been battling with the Danes,” said Andreas Martinsen. “I think the team they have now is the best team they’ve ever had, it’s going to be a big test and a good game and that’s what we wanted, to play in a final against them."

Ken Andre Olimb and Mats Rosseli Olsen each had a goal and two assists to lead the Norwegians to their second straight win.

Just as in their opening game against Denmark, Slovenia did not get off to a good start, taking a penalty three seconds into the game. The Norwegians broke through at 13:56, with Martin Roymark shooting the puck on net, getting it back from his teammate Eirik Salsten on the rebound for a second shot that went past Gasper Kroselj for the opening score.

Then following some intense forecheck pressure by Norway behind the Slovenian net, the puck came out to Christian Kaasastul, who shot on net and had it deflected by a Slovene player on the way for the 2-0 lead. The goal prompted head coach Matjaz Kopitar to pull Kroselj in favour of Luka Gracnar.

“We had another rough start,” said Robert Sabolic. “We were underdogs going into this game and it’s not easy to get back into the game against a team like that.”

But Slovenia’s hole grew deeper not long after that. While on a power play, captain Anze Kopitar was unable to keep a pass inside the Norway zone, allowing Mats Roselli Olsen and Ken Andre Olimb to jump out on a breakaway, Olsen feeding Olimb for his second goal of the tournament.

To their credit, Slovenia did almost manage to get back into the game. The Slovenes got themselves  on the scoresheet while on another power play, with Gregorc Blaz jumping on a loose puck following a scramble in the slot area to cut the lead to 3-1.  Then with six minutes left Kopitar fed Robert Sabolic with a pass from the high slot to the side of the net, Sabolic roofing it in to trim Norway’s lead to 3-2.

But Norway got back up by two goals just under five minutes into the second when Ken-Andre Olimb was tripped up by Jan Urbas on a breakaway, giving the Norwegians a penalty shot that would be taken by their star player Mats Zuccarello. Zuccarello skated up slowly to the goalie, paused and then snapped a shot through the five-hole to give his team a 4-2 lead to the delight of the home crowd.

Norway’s defence clamped down after Zuccarello’s goal, allowing just a handful of shots on net and none of them very challenging for goalie Henrik Haukeland. But the Norwegian goalie did have to stand on his head for a sequence midway through the frame, making four saves in quick succession culminating in a cross-crease robbery on a seemingly open shot from the side of the net by Sabolic.

Then it was the Olimb brothers combining to give their country a big goal late in the 2^nd, with Ken Andre Olimb taking advantage of a lapse in the Slovenia defence to feed the puck cross ice to his waiting older brother Mathis for the 5-2 lead. The younger Olimb would assist on another score with 27 seconds to go, his shot on net ending up on the stick of teammate for the commanding four-goal lead going into the third.

Down by four goals in the third, Slovenia made things a little tense for the Norwegians. Dany Sabolic cut into the Norway lead with a blast from the right circle on the power play four minutes into the frame. Then his teammate Klemen Pretnar took advantage of a defensive breakdown finding Kristjan Cepon wide open with a pass to cut the lead to 4-2.

But the Norwegians put their foot down with 4:12 remaining, a clean faceoff win by Michael Haga in the Slovenia zone allowed the puck to come to Christian Kaasastul who fired it home for the 7-4 lead.

The result puts a spot in the 2022 Olympic Winter Games within reach for the Norwegians. Standing in the way is their number one rivals Denmark, who have been unstoppable through two games so far in this qualification tournament. The game takes place Sunday evening in Oslo.

 

IIHF.COM

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Line-up for the final decisive game. No changes this time, same roster as against Poland.

 

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-   &  -   just started.

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Latvia opened the score in Riga.

 

10:56 Rihards Bukarts 1-0

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After 1st periods

 

-   1-0 & -   0-0

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37:49 Frederik Storm opened the score in Oslo.  -   0-1

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After 2nd periods

 

-   1-0 & -   0-1