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Post by LoneStarHockeyFan on May 6, 2004 15:35:23 GMT -5
When will the IHF announce the teams that will play in the "prequalifying" qualifying tournaments for Torino?
There's a discussion on the World Championships board about the qualifying tournaments and the countries that will play in them but I was wondering about the countries that will fill the three open slots.
Anybody know anything about that? I'm curious as to what countries will take a run at it.
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Post by DanCan on May 6, 2004 17:36:57 GMT -5
LoneStar,
Since, the Olympic qualification will be based on the 2004 World Ranking, the issue has been settled during the WC in Prague.
In the 2006 Olympics, 12 teams will participate. This is two less than in SLC and Nagano, but contrary to the these tournaments all 12 teams will participate directly (I'm not sure, but I guess the teams will be divided into two groups based on the 2005 World Rankings).
#1-8 on the 2004 World Rankings qualify directly for the Olympics. I haven't made the calculations, but USA is definitely in. I'm not sure whether Switzerland has taken Germany's spot in top 8.
Since Italy, the host nation, is also automatically qualified, the remaining three spots will be filled after a qualification tournament that will be played in February 2005. The three groups, each containing 4 teams, will be determined by the 2004 World Rankings (which I still haven't calculated). The top three teams in the 2004 World Rankings will each host the three tournaments.
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Post by Jazz on May 6, 2004 20:52:34 GMT -5
Hey Guys! My understanding is that it will be 2 groups of six and the seeding will be determined by the rankings of 2004, ie after next week. Switzerland needed to win it's SF today in order to unseat Germany for 8th in the World Rankings......they did not, so they remain in 9th, and have to Qualify for the 2006 Olympics. (if they had won the SF, they would have been guaranteed at least a 4th place finish this year. With Germany finishing 9th, the Swiss need to finish at the lowest 4th to gain the necessary points to pass Germany). Here is what we have based on the results of today: 8 Germany........ 2990 9 Switzerland....2920 10 Latvia ............2900 11 Austria ...........2755 12 Ukraine...........2720 13 Belarus...........2590 14 Denmark........2575 15 Japan.............2440 16 Slovenia.........2420 You can see the rest of the list @ live82.ihwc.net/english/prechampion/Interesting to note that Russia is going to fall from 4th in 2003 to what looks like 7th after this year.. |
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Post by DanCan on May 6, 2004 20:55:10 GMT -5
Gurj, I've just posted the new world rankings in another thread.  Well, LoneStar, he's the answer to your question: 2006 Olympics[/b] Automatically qualified[/b] Canada Sweden Slovakia Czech Republic USA Finland Russia Germany Italy Pre-qualification (Feb 2005)[/b] Group A - to be played in SwitzerlandSwitzerland Denmark Japan winner of group z Group B - to be played in LatviaLatvia Belarus Slovenia winner of group y Group C - to be played in AustriaAustria Ukraine Kazakhstan winner of group x Pre-pre-qualification (Nov. 2004)[/b] Group x - to be played in FranceFrance Estonia Great Britain Korea Group y - to be played in PolandPoland Netherlands Lithuania Serbia & Montenegro Group z - to be played in NorwayNorway Hungary Romania China NB: I'm not 100% sure about the pre-pre-qualification format, but I guess it looks like the one I've outlined. |
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Post by Jazz on May 6, 2004 20:56:51 GMT -5
As for the Olympic Qualifying groups: These three teams will earn their ticket to Torino via a series of three tournaments in February 2005, each consisting of four teams, and all tournaments being played simultaneously to ensure fair competition. It’s a simple round-robin format, so the four teams will all play three games. The top team in each tournament goes to Turin. Who are those teams? How do they get there? Simple. They represent the top nine teams—plus three qualifying teams—according to the world rankings that have applied to the IIHF to play in the Olympics. Let’s use the current IIHF world rankings to show what this tournament would look like if the current ranking standing remains after the completion of the 2004 IIHF World Championship (the country ranking is listed in brackets): A............................B........................C SUI (9)................LAT (10).............AUT (11) DEN (14).............BLR (13).............UKR (12) JPN (15)............. SLO (16).............KAZ (17) Q 3.........................Q 2.....................Q 1 The top-ranked team in each tournament has the first option to host this February 2005 event, so Switzerland, Latvia, and Ukraine (in this sample configuration) have the right to host their respective pools. If Switzerland declines, for instance, Denmark has the next choice. If no one wants to host, the IIHF will appoint one. The setup is straightforward, except for the Q 1, Q 2, Q 3. Where do these qualifying teams come from? That depends entirely on the number of teams that apply for the right to qualify for the Olympics. The IIHF has a plan in place no matter how many teams apply, but no matter what, that 12-team, three-tournament setup in February 2005 is the final road to Turin. source: live82.ihwc.net/english/article/news/index.ihwc?artId=1718 |
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Post by DanCan on May 6, 2004 21:05:20 GMT -5
Thanks  To avoid confusion, Gurj used the 2003 rankings to explain how it works. The groups looks like the ones I have outlined (based on the new 2004 rankings). |
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Post by Jazz on May 6, 2004 21:06:36 GMT -5
Ok, I'll fix it.....  I am ashamed  |
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Post by Jazz on May 6, 2004 21:10:08 GMT -5
BTW, have all the countries in Groups X, Y, and Z all applied to partake in the Qualification??
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Post by LoneStarHockeyFan on May 7, 2004 10:33:03 GMT -5
X,Y and Z were what I was trying to figure out. Thanks.
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Post by DanCan on May 8, 2004 9:35:16 GMT -5
It's now official. The outlined format on the qualification system was almost correct.
Directly qualified[/b]
Group A (as before the WC finals):
Canada
Czech Republic
Finland
Germany
highest ranking of qualifiers
Italy
Group B (as before the WC finals):
Sweden
Slovakia
USA
Russia
2nd highest ranking of qualifiers
3rd highest ranking of qualifiers
Qualification groups[/b]
Group A in Switzerland
Switzerland
Denmark
Japan
3rd highest ranking of pre-pre-qualifiers
Group B in Latvia
Latvia
Belarus
Slovenia
2rd highest ranking of pre-pre-qualifiers
Group C in Austria
Austria
Ukraine
Kazakhstan
highest ranking of pre-pre qualifiers
Pre-pre-qualification
Group D in France
France
Estonia
Romania
Bulgaria
Group D in Poland
Poland
Netherlands
Lithuania
Hungary
Group E in Norway
Norway
Hungary
China
Serbia & Montenegro
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Post by DanCan on May 8, 2004 9:36:09 GMT -5
From IIHF:
Thirty teams apply for Torino 2006--only 12 will make it
The IIHF has formally received all applications for participation in the Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy in February 2006. Some 30 nations in all hope to play for gold, but only 12 will actually qualify to play in Italy (as of May 2004, there are 63 member nations in the IIHF). The qualifying process, based on the IIHF World Ranking after this World Championship in Prague, will start in September 2004. (Of note, Great Britain (WR 25) is the lone member of Division I or higher not applying to compete.)
As reported earlier on this web site, the top eight countries in the World Ranking after this tournament automatically qualify for Torino. They are Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, and USA. Italy (WR 19) also gets an automatic spot as host nation. That means that 21 other countries will soon begin the qualifying process to see which three will fill the final spots for the Olympics less than two years from now.
That process will take the form of two qualification tournaments, the second of which will see the final teams named. The first tournament will take place in September 2004 in three sections consisting of four teams each:
Group D: France (19), Estonia (24), Romania (25), Bulgaria (30)
Group E: Poland (20), Netherlands (23), Lithuania (26), Croatia (29)
Group F: Norway (21), Hungary (22), China (27), Serbia & Montenegro (28)
Each group of four countries will play a round-robin tournament (i.e., three games each). The top nation in each group has been confirmed as host of their section's tournament. The team with the most points from each will then go on to the final pre-Olympic qualification tournament in November 2004. The setup will be the same and look like:
Group A: Switzerland (9), Denmark (14), Japan (15), Qualifier 3
Group B: Latvia (10), Belarus (13), Slovenia (16), Qualifier 2
Group C: Austria (11), Ukraine (12), Kazakhstan (17), Qualifier 1
Again, the Swiss, Latvians, and Austrians have confirmed their intention of hosting their group's schedule of games. Of the three Group winners (D, E, F) from September, these will be slotted into the three Qualifying places for the final qualifying tournament. The highest-ranked team in the World Rankings from those three winners will fill the Qualifier 1 slot (Group C), the second highest going into Q 2 (Group B), and the last into Q 3 (Group A).
The Olympic tournament has been reduced from 16 nations in Salt Lake City four years ago to 12 for Torino. These 12 will be divided into two groups based on World Ranking, the number-one ranked nation starting in Group A, and being slotted in on an alternating basis:
Group A: 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12 (ITA)
Group B: 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11
The top four teams in each group then advance to a playoff quarter-finals and semi-finals, and then to a gold medal game and bronze medal game, the same format as the current IIHF World Championship setup.
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Graham
Prospect
Sophomore
GBSC Webmaster
Posts: 148
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Post by Graham on May 8, 2004 11:08:06 GMT -5
I am disgusted that GB aren't playing. Heads should roll for that appalling decision made by Ice Hockey UK and Chris McSorley. The Great Britain Supporters Club offered to fund the trip. They were told money wasn't the issue. They felt that we weren't good enough to qualify, so didn't see the point in playing. Can someone please send Ice Hockey UK some glasses so they can see past the end of their own noses?  Graham. |
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Post by DanCan on May 8, 2004 16:52:41 GMT -5
Graham, I understand your anger. Seems that Ice Hockey UK has learned nothing. It may be that Great Britain has little chance of making it to the Olympics, but the team could gain a lot of experience playing against stronger teams. |
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Post by Lukasz on May 8, 2004 17:54:33 GMT -5
Korea also retire, they have enough hockey after Division I championships! AS for UK it is truth because the aren’t played in EIHC tournaments and now in Olympics qualifications, seems like isolation for own wish. |
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Post by Jazz on May 9, 2004 1:54:09 GMT -5
Well, with final rankings determined, DanCan's list above of the groups for the 2006 Olympics are now confirmed.
Directly qualified (with 2004 rankings in parantheses)
Group A:[/u]
Canada................................................(1)
Czech Republic......................................(4)
Finland..................................................(5)
Germany...............................................(8)
highest ranking of qualifiers................(TBD)
Italy......................................................(19)
Group B:[/u]
Sweden................................................(2)
Slovakia................................................(3)
USA.......................................................(6)
Russia...................................................(7)
2nd highest ranking of qualifiers........(TBD)
3rd highest ranking of qualifiers.........(TBD)
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