The National Hockey League is participating in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014, after skipping the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. Of course, this not only raises the level of competition, as the best players in the world get to represent their countries, but it also draws more attention to the sport than ever.
Both the men’s and women’s tournaments are governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the same organization that oversees the World Junior Championships and the World Championships each year. They don’t just draw 12 countries out of a hat to see who plays at the Winter Games; there is a process for every team to qualify.
How countries qualify for the Olympic ice hockey tournament
The top eight teams from the 2023 IIHF men’s world rankings, along with the host nation, received an automatic invitation to the tournament. This put Canada, Finland, the United States, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Czechia, France and Italy in by default.
On Nov. 9-12, 2023, the teams ranked 36th and below competed in the first round of qualification tournaments, with the top three advancing to the next round. South Africa, Thailand and Chinese Taipei moved on to Round 2 on Dec. 14-17, 2023. Estonia, the Netherlands and Serbia won their respective groups to move straight to Round 3 on Feb. 8-11, 2024.
Hungary, Great Britain and Korea advanced to the Final Qualification Tournament, which was played Aug. 29-Sept 1, 2024. The three host countries, Slovakia, Latvia and Denmark, won their groups to advance to the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
Once the tournament field was finalized, the IIHF used its world rankings to determine the seedings for Milan. Their rankings are based on a formula giving points for each country’s finish at IIHF-sanctioned tournaments over the previous four years: A team gets 1,600 points for winning a tournament, and then a 20-point interval is used between teams. However, a 40-point interval is used between gold and silver, silver and bronze, fourth and fifth and eighth and ninth. The additional points between those spots serve as a bonus for teams that advance to the quarterfinals, semifinals or final.
For the purposes of seeding at the 2026 Winter Olympics, teams got 100% of the points earned at the 2023 World Championships, 75% of the points earned at the 2022 World Championships and Winter Olympics, 50% of the points earned at the 2021 World Championships and 25% of the points earned at the 2020 World Championships.
How the format of the Olympic hockey tournament works
Once the 12 teams were properly seeded, they were split into three groups of four for the preliminary round:
- Group A: Canada, Switzerland, Czechia, France
- Group B: Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Italy
- Group C: United States, Germany, Latvia, Denmark
Each team will play the other three teams in their group to determine seeding for the elimination rounds. Teams will get three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime or shootout win or one point for an overtime or shootout loss. There are multiple tiebreakers in case of a tie in group play, and they work in this order: position in group, number of points, goal differential, goals scored and 2025 IIHF World Ranking.
The winners of the three groups and the top second-place team get byes into the quarterfinal round. The qualification playoffs will feature No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 7 vs. 10 and No. 8 vs. 9. The four winning teams advance to the quarterfinals. The winner of the 8 vs. 9 matchup will play the top-seeded team, the 7 vs. 10 winner plays the second seed, the 6 vs. 10 winner plays the third seed and the fourth seed will play the winner of the 5 vs. 12 game. The semifinals will be reseeded with the highest-seeded team playing the lowest-seeded team. The winners of the semifinals will play for the gold medal, while the losers will play for the bronze.