Olympics 2026 qualification

[SoundAndFury]

In Halmo's case, if the interest was mutual, it would have happened already as his linemate Dustin Gazley played in the last WC.

 

[Iceberg9]

I know that Denmark were the hosts and thus, nominal favourites, but damn, that was the only group where the second team actually looked better both on paper and previous game results. And yet, Norway failed miserably. Too bad, since in 2 years the gap between the teams would be even bigger. Yet, Danes stepped up when it matters.

France may hope for a rematch against Latvia in the OG.

Its a shame we will not see Norway there. I would honestly swap them with Latvia. Norway has potentionally some really good players to watch

 

[ellja3]

Its a shame we will not see Norway there. I would honestly swap them with Latvia. Norway has potentionally some really good players to watch

I might be biased here, but what are the Norwegian players you're talking about, perhaps Zuccarello aside? I would 100% rather see Šilovs trying to pull Gudļevskis-esque heroics vs USA instead. Then again, admiteddly, I am not very informed re: Norwegian prospects.

 

[Rcknrollkillnmachine]

Its a shame we will not see Norway there. I would honestly swap them with Latvia. Norway has potentionally some really good players to watch

Latvia is a hockey crazy nation with an energetic crowd of supporters and has had many good players in the NHL in comparison to Norway and their fans will come in droves to see them in Italy.

If anything I would have taken Norway over France for that wild card spot as they have some youth coming up.

 

[Albatros]

In Halmo's case, if the interest was mutual, it would have happened already as his linemate Dustin Gazley played in the last WC.

Though it's not that rare to have guys that want to go to the Olympics but not to the World Championships (representing a team they don't necessarily identify with).

 

[krutais23]

When will IIHF decide on Russia? Do we have a timeline for the decision?

Feb 2025

 

[FrHockeyFan]

Feb 2025

At the earliest. They could also make the decision later.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Though it's not that rare to have guys that want to go to the Olympics but not to the World Championships (representing a team they don't necessarily identify with).

I assume the Olympics carrot was dangled in front of him and Gazley, that's probably why the latter joined long after being initially eligible. I don't think these are the kind of players you beg to join repeatedly.

Its a shame we will not see Norway there. I would honestly swap them with Latvia. Norway has potentionally some really good players to watch

You do understand that Latvia has more NHLers, a stronger hockey nation, all that?

 

[Albatros]

Jalonen is probably also not the type to be desperate about naturalized players.

 

[ellja3]

At the earliest. They could also make the decision later.

Which would be interesting, as tickets go on sale Feb'25 (I'm registered for the draw)

 

[Eye of Ra]

Norway already been in many Olympics. Its fun with some new blood in Denmark and France.

 

[Maverick41]

IIHF has released the groups for both scenarios (with and without Russia participation).

IIHF - 2026 Men’s Winter Olympic Games Qualifications

Following the Men’s Olympic qualifications which took place in three different locations...

www.iihf.com

With Russia:

Group A	Group B	Group C
Canada	Finland	Russia
Sweden	Germany	United States
Switzerland	Czechia	Slovakia
Italy	Denmark	Latvia

Without Russia:

Group A	Group B	Group C
Canada	Finland	United States
Switzerland	Sweden	Germany
Czechia	Slovakia	Latvia
France*	Italy	Denmark

 

[Fil]

IIHF has released the groups for both scenarios (with and without Russia participation).

IIHF - 2026 Men’s Winter Olympic Games Qualifications

Following the Men’s Olympic qualifications which took place in three different locations...

www.iihf.com

With Russia:

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TH]Group A[/TH]
[TH]Group B[/TH]
[TH]Group C[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Canada[/TD]
[TD]Finland[/TD]
[TD]Russia[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sweden[/TD]
[TD]Germany[/TD]
[TD]United States[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Switzerland[/TD]
[TD]Czechia[/TD]
[TD]Slovakia[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Italy[/TD]
[TD]Denmark[/TD]
[TD]Latvia[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


Without Russia:

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TH]Group A[/TH]
[TH]Group B[/TH]
[TH]Group C[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Canada[/TD]
[TD]Finland[/TD]
[TD]United States[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Switzerland[/TD]
[TD]Sweden[/TD]
[TD]Germany[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Czechia[/TD]
[TD]Slovakia[/TD]
[TD]Latvia[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]France*[/TD]
[TD]Italy[/TD]
[TD]Denmark[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Group C is so unbalanced

 

[SoundAndFury]

Group C is so unbalanced

Doesn't really matter when there are 8 teams in the quarterfinals. Not like Denmark or Latvia have an unfair advantage playing each other instead of Italy or France.

 

[Namejs]

Doesn't really matter when there are 8 teams in the quarterfinals. Not like Denmark or Latvia have an unfair advantage playing each other instead of Italy or France.

Well, yes and no. The qualification round mitigates most of the seeding issues, but one of Germany/Latvia/Denmark is going to have an advantage and a realistic chance of actually getting either a bye into the QFs or a very easy opponent.

As for the US, they have an increased likelihood of becoming the top seed, which pretty much paves their way into the semis.

Since Germany is in the 2nd 'pot' and Czechia in the 3rd, there's really no way of avoiding this, though. The Germany group got lucky.

 

[SoundAndFury]

All 8 "good" teams still have an excellent chance to get into QFs. Everything else is just rearranging the deck chairs on a ship. The only way it doesn't happen is if they perform terribly in which case getting to QFs probably wouldn't have done them much good anyway.

 

[kabidjan18]

Senna Peeters scored a netfront goal today in the CHL against Rouen.

There's no way we could have used a good netfront goal scorer in this last tournament. No way.