By George Da Silva – National Teams of Ice Hockey
Winter Olympics in ice hockey will take place in Beijing, China between 9 and 20 February 2022. Twelve countries qualified for the tournament; eight did so automatically based on their IIHF rankings.
(Canada, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Czechia, USA, Germany & Switzerland). The Olympic Athletes from Russia are defending champions, while three others qualified through a qualification tournament. (Slovakia, Latvia and Denmark). China qualified automatically as host nation.
Twelve teams are divided into three groups of four teams each, and each team will play the other once. In each group, the top team and best second-ranked team advance to the quarterfinals, while the other teams compete in the qualification round. After the group stage, there will be a knockout stage.
In each group, teams will be ranked according to the following criteria:
- The number of points (3 points if you win during regulation time, 2 points if you win in overtime or in a shootout; 1 point if you lose during regulation time);
- If two teams are tied on points, their head-to-head game determines their ranking;
- The following criteria will be applied if three or four teams are tied (if two teams remain tied after applying all criteria, their head-to-head game will determine their ranking):
- The points gained in the head-to-head game between the two teams;
- The goal differential between the two teams;
- The total number of goals scored by each team in a head-to-head game
- When three teams are tied, results of head-to-head games between each team concerned and the remaining team in the group (points, goal difference, goals scored)
