Ice Hockey Discussion | Qualification to Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026

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13 hours ago, hckošice said:

The placement of in this round means only one thing, that IIHF is counting with Russia & Belarus return...

 

Hungary is 19th in the ranking. We know that teams ranked up to 17th plays the Final Qualifying Round ( is 14th) so as such if BLR was not eligible to play another nation would have taken its place, and since the next one is (18th) which is obviously automatically qualified to the games as Host country, the next one to move up to the Final Qualifiying round would have been Hungary, so no need to be a nuclear physicist to understand IIHF is already counting with to qualify directly to the Olympics and to play the FInal Qualifying Round which would be played in Slovakia...

 

Simple maths

 

Final Qualifying Round is likely going to be

 

D- SVK, BLR, KAZ, 3rd Qualifier

E- LAT, FRA, AUT, 2nd Qualifier

F- DEN, NOR, SLO, 1st Qualifier

 

Still, hope dies last...people use to say... so, still we (I) hope this scenario will not occur at the end and Slovakia will qualify directly

Think your right.  If by hope they do give  both the boot then i suspect the top two ranked that did not win in Round 3 would get a 2nd chance.

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On 10/11/2023 at 11:45 PM, hckošice said:

The placement of in this round means only one thing, that IIHF is counting with Russia & Belarus return...

 

Hungary is 19th in the ranking. We know that teams ranked up to 17th plays the Final Qualifying Round ( is 14th) so as such if BLR was not eligible to play another nation would have taken its place, and since the next one is (18th) which is obviously automatically qualified to the games as Host country, the next one to move up to the Final Qualifiying round would have been Hungary, so no need to be a nuclear physicist to understand IIHF is already counting with to qualify directly to the Olympics and to play the FInal Qualifying Round which would be played in Slovakia...

 

Simple maths

 

Final Qualifying Round is likely going to be

 

D- SVK, BLR, KAZ, 3rd Qualifier

E- LAT, FRA, AUT, 2nd Qualifier

F- DEN, NOR, SLO, 1st Qualifier

 

Still, hope dies last...people use to say... so, still we (I) hope this scenario will not occur at the end and Slovakia will qualify directly

Another change to Round Two                                                                                                                                 

 

 

South Africa to Round 2   replacing Kyrgyzstan who earlier replaced UAE       

 

 

 

Group K

 

Estonia, Iceland, Bulgaria, South Africa

 

Group L

Netherlands, Spain, Mexico,  Thailand

 

Group M

Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Chinese Taipei

Edited October 24, 2023 by stockblock

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On 10/11/2023 at 11:45 PM, hckošice said:

The placement of in this round means only one thing, that IIHF is counting with Russia & Belarus return...

 

Hungary is 19th in the ranking. We know that teams ranked up to 17th plays the Final Qualifying Round ( is 14th) so as such if BLR was not eligible to play another nation would have taken its place, and since the next one is (18th) which is obviously automatically qualified to the games as Host country, the next one to move up to the Final Qualifiying round would have been Hungary, so no need to be a nuclear physicist to understand IIHF is already counting with to qualify directly to the Olympics and to play the FInal Qualifying Round which would be played in Slovakia...

 

Simple maths

 

Final Qualifying Round is likely going to be

 

D- SVK, BLR, KAZ, 3rd Qualifier

E- LAT, FRA, AUT, 2nd Qualifier

F- DEN, NOR, SLO, 1st Qualifier

 

Still, hope dies last...people use to say... so, still we (I) hope this scenario will not occur at the end and Slovakia will qualify directly

Finally Official

 

https://blob.iihf.com/iihf-media/iihfmvc/media/2023/owgq/2026_owg_men_qualification_hosting_231023.pdf

 

[avlar 586]

Decision on rus and blr teams participation in 2026 Olympic hockey tournament is expected by March 2024.

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On 10/11/2023 at 11:45 PM, hckošice said:

The placement of in this round means only one thing, that IIHF is counting with Russia & Belarus return...

 

Hungary is 19th in the ranking. We know that teams ranked up to 17th plays the Final Qualifying Round ( is 14th) so as such if BLR was not eligible to play another nation would have taken its place, and since the next one is (18th) which is obviously automatically qualified to the games as Host country, the next one to move up to the Final Qualifiying round would have been Hungary, so no need to be a nuclear physicist to understand IIHF is already counting with to qualify directly to the Olympics and to play the FInal Qualifying Round which would be played in Slovakia...

 

Simple maths

 

Final Qualifying Round is likely going to be

 

D- SVK, BLR, KAZ, 3rd Qualifier

E- LAT, FRA, AUT, 2nd Qualifier

F- DEN, NOR, SLO, 1st Qualifier

 

Still, hope dies last...people use to say... so, still we (I) hope this scenario will not occur at the end and Slovakia will qualify directly

THis is getting crazy... Very Weird compared to other years.  Now Mexico drops out of Group L.... REPLACEMENT IS Georgia !!!!!

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First Iraq vs Singapore  for the right to join GROUP O was cancelled.   No word from IIHF why.

 

Then Group N (UAE, Kyrgystan, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Georgia) & Group O (Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Bosnia, South Africa, Iraq) were cancelled wiithout a explanation by IIHF.

 

As a result  Chinese Taipei, Thailand, UAE  were promoted to round 2. Again no explanation

 

Then UAE drops out replaced by Kyrgystan. Again no explanation.

 

Then Kyrgystan drops out replaced by South Africa. Again no explanation.

 

Now Mexico drops out replaced by Georgia.  Again no explanation.

 

 

Never seen these kind of changes before.

 

 

[JoshMartini007 2,864]

It's just another example of sport struggling, post-Covid/inflation. Before sport federations would join tournaments without securing funding expecting to get the money needed (either through investors, government or the players). Now they are finding out those sources are less likely to fund their trip, especially for Division III/IV teams which have no chance at qualifying to the Olympics.

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Anyone hearing anything about the tournament scheduled for Iceland in December ?  That volcano that everyone is saying is near eruption is only 31 miles from the place where the tournament is scheduled.  Are we facing another cancellation ?

[hckošice 16,630]

2nd QUALIFYING ROUND

 

Round-Robin
December 14th - December 17th, 2023
12 Nations, 3 Groups, the 1st Nation from each Group will qualify for the 3rd Qualifying Round

 

 

Group K

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT )

 

Bulgaria   0 - 21  Estonia
Period-by-Period: 0-3, 0-8, 0-10
December 14th 2023, h. 15:30, Laugardalur Arena, Reykjavik

 

Iceland   9 - 0  South Africa
Period-by-Period: 3-0, 3-0, 3-0
December 14th 2023, h. 19:00, Laugardalur Arena, Reykjavik

 

Estonia   9 - 2  South Africa
Period-by-Period: 1-1, 5-1, 3-0
December 15th 2023, h. 15:30, Laugardalur Arena, Reykjavik

 

Iceland   4 - 3  Bulgaria
Period-by-Period: 1-0, 1-2, 2-1
December 15th 2023, h. 19:00, Laugardalur Arena, Reykjavik

 

South Africa   4 - 1  Bulgaria

Period-by-Period: 0-0, 1-0, 3-1
December 17th 2023, h. 13:30, Laugardalur Arena, Reykjavik

 

Estonia   6 - 0  Iceland
Period-by-Period: 3-0, 2-0, 1-0
December 17th 2023, h. 17:00, Laugardalur Arena, Reykjavik

 

Group K Final Standing

 

Nation	P	W(OTW)	L(OTL)	GF	GA	+/-	Pt.
Estonia	3	3(0)	0(0)	36	2	+34	9
Iceland	3	2(0)	1(0)	13	9	+4	6
South Africa	3	1(0)	2(0)	6	19	-13	3
Bulgaria	3	0(0)	3(0)	4	29	-25	0

 

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by hckošice

[hckošice 16,630]

2nd QUALIFYING ROUND

 

Round-Robin
December 15th - December 17th, 2023
12 Nations, 3 Groups, the 1st Nation from each Group will qualify for the 3rd Qualifying Round

 

Group L

Central European Time (GMT +1)

 

Spain   15 - 2  Thailand
Period-by-Period: 6-0, 6-2, 3-0
December 15th 2023, h. 16:30, Ijssportscentrum, Tilburg

 

Netherlands   8 - 2  Georgia
Period-by-Period: 2-1, 2-1, 4-0
December 15th 2023, h. 20:00, Ijssportscentrum, Tilburg

 

Thailand   1 - 23  Netherlands
Period-by-Period: 1-6, 0-7, 0-10
December 16th 2023, h. 16:30, Ijssportscentrum, Tilburg

 

Spain   5 - 1  Georgia
Period-by-Period: 1-0, 3-1, 1-0
December 16th 2023, h. 20:00, Ijssportscentrum, Tilburg

 

Netherlands   3 - 4  Spain

Period-by-Period: 1-0, 2-3, 0-1
December 17th 2023, h. 16:30, Ijssportscentrum, Tilburg

 

Georgia   10 - 0  Thailand

Period-by-Period: 3-0, 4-0, 3-0
December 17th 2023, h. 20:00, Ijssportscentrum, Tilburg

 

Group L Final Standing

 

Nation	P	W(OTW)	L(OTL)	GF	GA	+/-	Pt.
Spain	3	3(0)	0(0)	24	6	+18	9
Netherlands	3	2(0)	1(0)	34	7	+27	6
Georgia	3	1(0)	2(0)	13	13	0	3
Thailand	3	0(0)	3(0)	3	48	-45	0

Edited December 17, 2023 by hckošice