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Ice hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament

The men's tournament in ice hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics took place in Beijing, China between 9 and 20 February 2022.[1] Twelve countries qualified for the tournament; eight of them did so automatically by virtue of their ranking by the International Ice Hockey Federation, one, China, automatically qualified as hosts, while the three others took part in a qualification tournament.

The Olympic Athletes from Russia team won in 2018. The Russian Olympic Committee, representing Russia at the 2022 Games, were thus the defending champions.[2]

For the first time in history, the Czech Republic did not qualify for the quarter-finals and finished in ninth place, their worst placement in history.[3]

Finland won their first ever ice hockey Olympic gold medal after going undefeated and beating the Russian Olympic Committee in the final.[4]

Slovakia claimed their first ever ice hockey medal at the Olympics after defeating Sweden 4–0 and finishing third.[5]

Venues

Qualified teams

Notes
  1. a 2019 IIHF World Ranking were comprising the following events: 2016 World Championship, 2017 World Championship, 2018 Winter Olympic Games, 2018 World Championship and 2019 World Championship
  2. b Bratislava and Košice were the sites for 2019 IIHF World Championship; at the conclusion of the tournament the ranking were finalized with regards to the qualification slots.

Format

The twelve teams were split into three groups of four teams each, in which they played against each team once. The top team of each group and the best second-ranked team advanced to the quarterfinals, while all other teams played a qualification round. A knockout system was used after the group stage.

Rosters

Due to the lack of ice hockey talent in China, players had to be recruited from abroad. The Chinese men's hockey team was composed of eleven Canadians, nine Chinese, three Americans, and a Russian.[8] Neither the Chinese Olympic Committee, International Ice Hockey Federation nor the IOC commented on how it was possible for foreign players to compete for China, as the Olympic Charter requires competitors to be citizens of the country they represent. According to the nationality law of China, anyone who were naturalized as Chinese citizens, or those who resumed their Chinese nationality, must renounce all the other nationalities, as China does not recognize dual-nationality. The IOC Executive Board has the authority to make certain exceptions of a "general or individual nature", though it is unclear whether this was the case. When asked whether he had naturalized as a Chinese citizen, athlete Jake Chelios refused to comment, though he confirmed that he still has his American passport.[9]

NHL participation

On 10 July 2020, the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) and National Hockey League agreed to a renewed collective bargaining agreement, which includes a provision opening the possibility for the NHL to explore participation at the 2022 and 2026 Winter Olympics.[10] On 22 July 2021, the NHL released a 2021–22 schedule that included an Olympic break, but the league also announced that a final agreement had not yet been reached regarding Olympic participation of NHL players in 2022.[11] On 3 September 2021, an agreement was made to allow NHL players to compete.[12] In December 2021, many NHL players started contracting COVID-19 and several teams temporarily suspended operations while their players were in quarantine. This forced the NHL to postpone some regular season games and due to the rise in cases of COVID-19 worldwide; on 22 December 2021, the NHL announced that NHL players would not be released for participation in the Olympics.[13]

Match officials

15 referees and 12 linesmen were selected for the tournament.[14][15]

Preliminary round

All times are local (UTC+8).[16]

Tiebreak criteria

In each group, teams were ranked according to the following criteria:

  1. Number of points (three points for a regulation-time win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, one point for an overtime or shootout defeat, no points for a regulation-time defeat);
  2. In case two teams were tied on points, the result of their head-to-head match determined the ranking;
  3. In case three or four teams were tied on points, the following criteria applied (if, after applying a criterion, only two teams remained tied, the result of their head-to-head match determined their ranking):
    1. Points obtained in head-to-head matches between the teams concerned;
    2. Goal differential in head-to-head matches between the teams concerned;
    3. Number of goals scored in head-to-head matches between the teams concerned;
    4. If three teams remained tied, result of head-to-head matches between each of the teams concerned and the remaining team in the group (points, goal difference, goals scored);
    5. Place in 2021 IIHF World Ranking.

Group A

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: Preliminary round tiebreakers
(H) Host

Group B

Source: IIHF

Group C

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: Preliminary round tiebreakers

Ranking after preliminary round

Following the completion of the preliminary round, all teams were ranked 1D through 12D. The semifinals were then reseeded according to this ranking. To determine this ranking, the following criteria were used in the order presented:[17]

  1. higher position in the group
  2. higher number of points
  3. better goal difference
  4. higher number of goals scored for
  5. better IIHF World Ranking.

Playoff round

Bracket

Teams were reseeded based on the preliminary round ranking after the quarterfinals.

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Bronze medal game

Gold medal game

Final ranking

The places five to twelve were ranked by their preliminary round group placement and then points and goal difference.

Source: IIHF
(H) Host

Statistics

Scoring leaders

The list shows the top ten skaters sorted by points, then goals.

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position
Source: IIHF.com

Leading goaltenders

The list shows the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes.

TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF.com

Awards

The all-star team was announced on 20 February 2022.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Beijing 2022 Ice Hockey schedule". olympics.com. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  2. ^ The team competed under the name of the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) in 2018 and under the name of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in 2022.
  3. ^ "Swiss avenge group stage loss, advance to QF". iihf.com. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  4. ^ "Finns win historic gold in Beijing". iihf.com. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Slovakia wins first ever Olympic medal". iihf.com. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  6. ^ "China set for Olympic ice hockey". IIHF. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  7. ^ "Olympic Winter Games". IIHF. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  8. ^ Olsvik, Justin. "China Recruited Canadians to Avoid Embarrassment on the Olympic Ice". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  9. ^ Higgins, Laine (2022-02-12). "Jake Chelios Is American, Greek, Scottish, German and Irish. He's Playing for the Chinese Hockey Team". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  10. ^ "NHL, NHLPA ratify CBA extension through 2025–26 season". National Hockey League. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  11. ^ "NHL announces 2021–22 regular-season schedule". NHL.com. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  12. ^ "NHL players are back". IIHF.com. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  13. ^ "NHL announces players will not participate in Beijing Winter Olympics". sports.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  14. ^ "Olympic game officials nominated". IIHF.com. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  15. ^ "Competition Officials" (PDF). IIHF.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 February 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  16. ^ "Olympic schedule announced". iihf.com. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  17. ^ "Tournament Info". IIHF.com. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  18. ^ "Slafkovsky voted MVP". IIHF. 20 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.

External links