Olympic women’s ice hockey tournament in Sochi 2014

Participants: Nations ranked 1-6 according to the 2012 IIHF Women’s World Ranking plus two qualifiers.

Seeding:
Group A: Canada (1), USA (2), Finland (3), Switzerland (4)
Group B: Sweden (5), Russia (6), Germany (8), Japan (11)

Note: This is the only major change compared to 2010 as the preliminary round will take place in two tiers, as Group A will consist of teams ranked 1-4 while Group B will be comprised of teams ranked 5-8. Quarter-finals: 3A-2B & 4A-1B, semi-finals: 1A vs. winner 4A/1B, 2A vs. winner 3A/2B.

Final Olympic Qualification (2 tournaments, 7-10 February 2013)

Nations ranked 7-12 plus the two winners from the Olympic Pre-Qualification.

Group C in Poprad, Slovakia: Slovakia (7), Norway (10), Japan (11), Denmark (19)
Group D in Weiden, Germany: Germany (8), Kazakhstan (9), Czech Republic (12), China (13)

Olympic Pre-Qualification (2 tournaments, 8-11 November 2012)

Nations ranked 13-18 plus qualifiers from any preliminary qualification if required.

Group E in Shanghai, China: China (13), France (16), Great Britain (17), Netherlands (21)
Group F in Valmiera, Latvia: Latvia (14), Austria (15), Italy (18), Denmark (19)

Olympic Preliminary Qualification (2 tournaments)

Group G in Barceona, Spain: Denmark (19), Croatia (22), Hungary (23), Spain (26). 12-14 October 2012.
Group H in Jastrzebie-Zdroj, Poland: Slovenia (20), Netherlands (21), Korea (24), Poland (25). 27-30 September 2012.