Ice hockey at the 1998 Winter Olympics – Men's qualification

Fourteen nations would qualify for the Olympic tournament, eight to the preliminary round, and six to the first round. The IIHF used the standings of the 1995 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships to determine qualification. First, the top six nations from Pool A would go directly to the first round. The preliminary round was made up of the nations ranked seventh and eighth, along with the host Japan, and five others from a series of qualification tournaments. The nations ranked nine through twelve went straight to the final qualification round.[1]

Ice hockey at the
1998 Winter Olympics
Qualification
men
Tournament
menwomen
Rosters
menwomen

Regional Pre-Qualification
Group A

Five nations played each other twice, both home and away, from October 25, 1995, until December 12, 1996.

Rank Team GP W L T GF GA PTS
1  Switzerland 86024214142–28–15–37–1
2 Great Britain 85033115133–31–15–04–1
3 Denmark 8341232872–62–34–24–0
4 Slovenia 8350322461–44–55–19–0
5 Netherlands 808085501–72–83–80–8
Group B

This tournament was played in Tychy, Poland, from December 17 to 22, 1996.

Rank Team GP W L T GF GA PTS
1 Ukraine 430151373–310–017–021–0
2 Poland 430136873–36–314–013–2
3 Romania 4220192240–103–67–29–4
4 Bulgaria 413074020–170–142–75–2
5 FR Yugoslavia 404084800–212–134–92–5
  • Note: In January 1996 Greece beat Israel 10–2, but forfeited the result because of an ineligible player. Following that, in March of the same year Israel played Yugoslavia, in Lithuania, losing 5–3. Israel's loss is officially a 5–0 loss, the match was declared forfeit because they used ineligible players from Russia.
Group C

This tournament was played in Riga, Latvia, from August 27 to September 1, 1996.

Rank Team GP W L T GF GA PTS
1 Belarus 440054484–113–116–121–1
2 Latvia 431053661–410–215–027–0
3 Hungary 4220193141–132–107–49–4
4 Estonia 4130144121–160–154–79–3
5 Lithuania 404086601–210–274–93–9
  • Note: In January 1996 Hungary played a challenge series against Croatia winning 7–0 and 6–0.
Group D

The Asian Winter Games were used as a qualifying tournament, and were played in Harbin, China, from February 5 to 8, 1996. Japan participated though already qualified for the Olympics.

Team GP W L T GF GA PTS
 Kazakhstan 330033264–120–09–1
 Japan 321014641–47–16–1
 China 312072920–201–76–2
 South Korea 303042101–91–62–6

Final Olympic Qualification

The top two from each group qualify, the two third placed nations play for the final spot.

Group 1

Played in Oberhausen, Germany, from February 6 to 9, 1997.

Team GP W L T GF GA PTS
 Germany 320111753–24–14–4
 Slovakia 31119732–33–34–1
  Switzerland 31116831–43–32–1
 Ukraine 302161014–41–41–2
Group 2

Played in Innsbruck, Austria, from February 6 to 9, 1997.

Team GP W L T GF GA PTS
 Belarus 310212844–46–22–2
 Kazakhstan 310211844–44–13–3
 Austria 312071122–61–44–1
 Norway 30126922–23–31–4
Play-off
February 11, 1997Austria 2–0
(0–0, 1–0, 1–0)		  SwitzerlandDuisburg Germany

 Austria secures the final spot in the Preliminary Round.

References
  1. qualification process

Sources
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