Olympics

The first Olympic qualifying tournaments are here

The schedule and how to stream the games.

After a few postponements, it’s finally time for the Olympic qualification tournaments to kick off!

The tournaments were decided based on each countries IIHF World Rankings points system. First up is the teams ranked 16 through 27 with the highest ranked teams getting the chance to host. The tournaments are seeded from there.

The winners of each round robin tournament will move on to the final qualification tournaments, which will take place Nov. 11 - 14 in Czech Republic, Germany, and Sweden.

Of the 12 teams competing in this first set of tournaments only Italy and Kazakhstan appeared in the Olympics - both in 2002 when Italy was the host nation and Kazakhstan qualified.

Group F

Initially South Korea was set to host this tournament. However, due the pandemic, the IIHF moved the tournament to Great Britain.

It looks like streams will be on the Olympic page.

Oct. 7

Korea - Slovenia at 9 a.m. eastern
Great Britain - Iceland at 2:15 p.m. eastern

Oct. 8

Iceland - Korea at 9 a.m. eastern
Great Britain - Slovenia at 2 p.m. eastern

Oct. 10

Slovenia - Iceland at 8 a.m. eastern
Korea - Great Britain at noon eastern

Group G

Italy will host Spain, Kazakhstan, and Taipei.

All of the games will be streamed on YouTube.

Oct. 7

Spain - Kazakhstan at 10 a.m. eastern
Italy - Taipei at 2:15 p.m. eastern

Oct. 9
Kazakhstan - Taipei at 10 a.m. eastern
Italy - Spain at 2:15 p.m. eastern

Oct. 10

Spain - Taipei at 10 a.m. eastern
Italy - Kazakhstan at 2:15 p.m. eastern

Group H

Poland plays host to Turkey, Mexico, and the Netherlands.

All of the games except those Poland are playing will be stream on Poland’s YouTube channel.

Oct. 7

Poland - Turkey at 9:30 a.m. eastern
Mexico - Netherlands at 1:30 p.m. eastern

Oct. 8

Netherlands - Turkey at 10 a.m. eastern
Poland - Mexico at 2 p.m. eastern

Oct. 10

Netherlands - Poland at 6:15 a.m. eastern
Turkey - Mexico at 10:15 a.m. eastern

The US, Canada, Switzerland, Finland, Russian Olympic Committee, and Japan already qualified based on their rankings. China also has qualified as the host nation.

IIHF releases 2022 Olympic schedule