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What is an Olympic Hockey classification game?

By Dave Stevenson

PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA - OCTOBER 30, 2017: A view of an ice rink at the Gangneung Hockey Centre that is to host the men's ice hockey tournament during the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Stanislav Varivoda/TASS (Photo by Stanislav Varivoda\TASS via Getty Images)
PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA - OCTOBER 30, 2017: A view of an ice rink at the Gangneung Hockey Centre that is to host the men's ice hockey tournament during the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Stanislav Varivoda/TASS (Photo by Stanislav Varivoda\TASS via Getty Images) /
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Between the group round and knockout round, there are some Olympic Hockey classification games. How do they work? 

The 2018 Winter Olympics are here. With this comes some new things people might be confused by. One of the biggest questions regarding the hockey schedule is about classification games. Why are they played? What are they?

To understand what a classification game is, you first must understand the Olympic tournament format. Women’s hockey features two groups of four teams for a total of eight teams. Men’s hockey features four groups of four teams for a total of 16 teams.

On the women’s side, the top six teams automatically advance. The top two teams in group A get a bye to the semifinals. Meanwhile, the remaining four teams battle in the quarterfinals. The losers go to the fifth-place bracket. That’s where qualification games occur. The rules are slightly different for men’s hockey, but it has similar principles.

Women’s hockey’s Group A features the United States and Canada. They’re in their own group because people got tired of seeing them blow out every other team. Meanwhile, men’s hockey is much more balanced. Women’s hockey will have a fifth-place game and a seventh-place game. Any game played to determine the seeds of fifth through eighth in women’s and men’s hockey are considered classification games.

A qualification game is a game that determines the non-medal places through eighth. The top three teams get a medal. While the other teams don’t, it’s still important where teams finish because it helps to determine rankings in future tournaments.

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So while the classification games are not as important as the medal games, they’re still quite relevant. Countries are playing for pride and to perhaps better their chances of qualifying for future Olympics. They’re definitely worth tuning into, even if the games tend to happen at really odd times. If nothing else, classification games are an excuse to watch more hockey.

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