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

[vovanA 210]

1 hour ago, Josh said:

Couldn’t you say the same thing about every single other country?

Well, Canada, United States, Sweden, Czechia and Finland - they all did better in NHL Olympics

[hckošice 16,641]

29 minutes ago, vovanA said:

Finland

you sure ?

[hckošice 16,641]

14 hours ago, Josh said:

Because Russia earned their ticket through combined results at the last two World Chamipionships, and Belarus didn't 

Yeah, well, not really.

 

They did not play last 3 worlds and yet still earn points gratis for Bronze medal place because of their standing on the IIHF ranking.

 

I know, if they played they would likely won the points themselves easily, but, the fact is they did not and still received huge points for doing nothing. Not really fair towards others.

[hckošice 16,641]

14 hours ago, hckošice said:

Mens Ice Hockey Tournament Groups

 

 

1) If is in (Personally I put a 20% chance)

 

A-  

B-

C-

 

 

2) If banned and is repeached as best 2nd team from the Final Qualifying Tournaments

(Personally I put a 50% chance)

 

A-

B-

C-

 

 

3) If banned and is repeached as highest seeded non-qualified (Personally I put a 30% chance)

 

A-

B-

C-

I made a small mistake here. in the B variant (the more likely)

 

In case Russia banned and getting repeached (according to rumors behind the scenes it is amost certain now)

 

France will be in Group B and Denmark in Group C

 

so...

 

A-

B-

C-

[nickp1991 7]

 Team USA should destroy Group C if Russia isn’t there

[vovanA 210]

1 hour ago, hckošice said:

you sure ?

Finland has 1 silver and 3 bronzes with NHL players, Russia has 1 silver and 1 bronze (and nothing after 2002).

[hckošice 16,641]

18 minutes ago, vovanA said:

Finland has 1 silver and 3 bronzes with NHL players, Russia has 1 silver and 1 bronze (and nothing after 2002).

I know that.

 

I pointed just that Finland´s only gold was at the non-NHL tournament in 22. That´s all, It is obvious that for europeans the better is the non-NHL olympics, we also had better games when NHLers were not allowed like in Lillehammer or Beijing with only rare successes in NHL tournaments like in Vancouver or Czechs in Nagano.

 

But, from overall side, I still will want a best on best tournament with NHLers at any time over a better chance of success withouth them.

[vovanA 210]

3 minutes ago, hckošice said:

I know that.

 

I pointed just that Finland´s only gold was at the non-NHL tournament in 22. That´s all, It is obvious that for europeans the better is the non-NHL olympics, we also had better games when NHLers were not allowed like in Lillehammer or Beijing with only rare successes in NHL tournaments like in Vancouver or Czechs in Nagano.

 

But, from overall side, I still will want a best on best tournament with NHLers at any time over a better chance of success withouth them.

I only responede to Josh that Russian NHL players can't prepare properly for a short time, other teams always do it better. and in 2026 it would probably be the same if Russia qualifies. for sure non-NHL Olympics is a better option for Europeans

[stockblock 39]

8 hours ago, nickp1991 said:

 Team USA should destroy Group C if Russia isn’t there

If Russia is out they reorganize the groups so USA would have Germany, Latvia, Denmark in their group rather then the current setup of Russia, Slovakia, and Latvia.

[Josh 13,628]

18 hours ago, hckošice said:

I know that.

 

I pointed just that Finland´s only gold was at the non-NHL tournament in 22. That´s all, It is obvious that for europeans the better is the non-NHL olympics, we also had better games when NHLers were not allowed like in Lillehammer or Beijing with only rare successes in NHL tournaments like in Vancouver or Czechs in Nagano.

 

But, from overall side, I still will want a best on best tournament with NHLers at any time over a better chance of success withouth them.

I share the same viewpoint as you, and it’s not just because Canada would be better with NHL players.