Ice hockey at the Olympics will start on February 3, one day before the opening ceremony, with the Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Tournament running until February 22, 2022.
The women’s hockey tournament starts with China playing the highest seeded qualifier at Wukesong Sports Centre.
The tournament for the first time will be played with ten teams.
Russian Olympic Committee (qualified via world ranking)
Switzerland (qualified via world ranking)
Japan (qualified via world ranking)
China (qualified as host nation)
Similar to the Women’s Worlds, the pre-qualified teams will be seeded in two tiered groups of five teams:
USA, Canada, Finland, ROC and Switzerland – will play in Group A.
Japan, host China and three qualifiers to be determined will play in Group B.
The three qualifiers will become known in November when the Final Olympic Qualification tournaments will be held in the Czech Republic, Germany and Sweden, Nobember 11-14, 2021.
The quarter-finals, played from October 7-10, 2021, will consist of the five Group A teams and the top-3 Group B teams.
Pre-qualification Round 2
Teams ranked 16th to 26th, plus one qualifier from Pre-Qualification Round 1 (Iceland) will play in three tournaments to determine qualifiers for the Final Qualification Round.
Each tournament winner will be ranked by their qualification seeding and will enter the next round as qualifier four, five or six. These tournaments were supposed to take place from 11 to 14 February 2021, but were postponed until October 7-10, 2021.
First match(es) will be played on October 7 2021.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament.
(H) Host
Group F
The tournament will be held in Nottingham, Great Britain.
Group G
The tournament will be held in Torre Pellice, Italy.
Teams ranked 7th to 15th, plus three qualifiers will play in three tournaments to determine qualifiers for the Olympic tournament.
Each tournament winner will be ranked by their qualification seeding and will play in Group B as qualifier one, two, or three. These tournaments were set to take place from August 26-29, 2021, but were postponed until November 11-14, 2021.
First match(es) will be played on November 11 2021.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament.
(H) Host
Group C
The tournament will be held in Chomutov, Czech Republic.
