Men's Tournament Programme & Schedules The following summarises the issues that have been addressed in the development of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games Men’s Hockey Tournament:
- The 2010 Olympic Winter Games Men's Tournament is to begin on Tuesday February 16, and finish on Sunday February 28, 2010.
- A full schedule of NHL games will be played on the weekend of Saturday February 13 and Sunday February 14, 2010.
- NHL player travel to Vancouver will be scheduled and arranged for Sunday February 14 and Monday February 15, 2010.
- The NHL wish a maximum of three games in the Preliminary Round before elimination games begin in the tournament.
- The entire tournament be played in a maximum of 13 days.
- The maximum number of men's tournament games to be played at GM Place to maximize spectator attendance.
- Three games per day are to be scheduled to complete all 30 games in the 13 days of this event.
- A minimum of four hours and thirty minutes are to be scheduled between game start times each day.
- Higher ranking at the conclusion of the Preliminary Round during the event brings privileges.
- The IIHF three-point system will be used for this tournament as presented in the IIHF Sport Regulations.
- Unless otherwise stated within this document the IIHF Statutes, Bylaws and Regulations in force at the time will be utilised for the operation of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games Men's Tournament and the corresponding qualification tournaments listed within this document.
Qualification Principles- National Associations wishing to enter the 2010 Olympic Winter Games Men's Tournament competition must submit their completed Team Entry Form to the IIHF Office, signed by both their National Olympic Committee and their National Association, by December 31, 2007.
- Twelve (12) teams will be qualified to participate in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games Men's Tournament and will be qualified by February 2009.
- The IIHF World Ranking System will determine seeding for the Olympic competition and all qualifications of this competition..
- The qualification system for participation in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games Men's Competition will be performed in four separate stages: Direct Entry, Final Olympic Qualification, Olympic Pre-Qualification and Preliminary Qualification.
- The top nine men's teams from the 2008 IIHF World Ranking, (determined immediately following completion of the 2008 IIHF World Championship), will be automatically qualified for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games competition and seeded directly into the Preliminary Round following the seeding procedures outlined in the IIHF Sport Regulations and using their 2008 IIHF World Ranking number.
- The national associations entering their men's team into the qualification for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games will be allocated to one of the three Final Olympic Qualification tournaments, or to one of the three Olympic Pre-Qualification Tournaments or, if necessary, into Preliminary Qualifications using their ranking numbers according to the 2008 IIHF World Ranking.
- The Olympic Pre-Qualification and the Final Olympic Qualification Tournaments will be formatted and seeded as specified below with team registration as presented in the formats that follow.
- The top ranked teams by Group have the hosting rights for each qualification tournament. Confirmations must be made by the 2008 Annual Congress.
- The venue must be accepted by the IIHF in all hosting arrangements.
- Should the highest ranked team reject the hosting rights or if the venue does not meet IIHF standards then the event will be offered to the next highest ranked team following these conditions until an organiser is allocated.
Olympic Pre-Qualification Tournaments (November 6-9, 2008):- Olympic Pre-Qualification tournaments for nations ranked 19 through 27 plus qualifiers from any preliminary qualification required or ranked nations 28 through 30.
- Teams are permitted to enter a maximum of 20 players, 2 goalkeepers and 6 staff members. For any preliminary qualification that may be required, teams will be permitted to enter the same maximum team numbers.
Final Olympic Qualification Tournaments (February 5-8, 2009):- Olympic Qualification tournaments for nations ranked 10 through 18 plus three qualifiers from the Olympic Pre-Qualification Tournaments held in November 2008.
- Teams are permitted to enter a maximum of 20 players, 3 goalkeepers and 7 staff members.
2010 OWG Men's Tournament Playing Format:- The top nine ranked national associations according to the 2008 IIHF World Ranking, determined at the conclusion of the 2008 IIHF World Championship, will be seeded in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games Men's Tournament according to their 2008 IIHF World Ranking number.
- The three winning teams of the Final Olympic Qualification Tournaments will be seeded into the 2010 Olympic Winter Games Men's Tournament following their 2008 IIHF World Ranking number.
- The 12 teams will be seeded into three groups of four teams each in a normal seeding pattern following the IIHF Sport Regulations:
- The teams will compete in the 30 game schedule including 18 Preliminary Round Games, 4 Qualification Playoff Games, 4 Quarter Final Games, 2 Semi-Final Games, one Bronze Medal Game and one Gold Medal Game:
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- At the conclusion of the 18 game Preliminary Round all 12 teams will be ranked according to a special criterion. This ranking will be used for seeding the teams in the Qualification Playoff games and will used for calculating the Final Ranking at the conclusion of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games Men's Tournament.
- The following criteria will be used in the order presented to determine this ranking following completion of the Preliminary Round (1D - 12D):
- Higher position in the group
- Higher number of points
- Better goal difference
- Higher number of goals scored for
- Better 2009 IIHF World Ranking
- After the Preliminary Round, 1D, 2D, 3D and 4D will receive a bye into the Quarter Finals and will be named as the Home Team for their Quarter Final pairing.
- The Qualification Playoff games will be played with the following match-ups (Group E):
- 5D - 12D (Winner will become E1)
- 6D - 11D (Winner will become E2)
- 7D - 10D (Winner will become E3)
- 8D - 9D (Winner will become E4)
- The four winning teams of the Qualification Playoff games will advance to the Quarter Final Round. The four losing teams of the Qualification Playoff games will be ranked 9 through 12 according to their ranking after the Preliminary Round.
- 10. The Quarter Final Games will be played with the following match-ups (Group F):
- 1D - E4 (Winner will become F1)
- 2D - E3 (Winner will become F2)
- 3D - E2 (Winner will become F3)
- 4D - E1 (Winner will become F4)
- The four winning teams of the Quarter Final games will advance to the Semi-Finals. The four losing teams of the Quarter Finals will be ranked 5 through 8 according to their ranking after the Preliminary Round.
- The Semi-Final games will be played with the following match-ups. The home team will be the higher ranked team as determined at the completion of the Preliminary Round (Group D):
- The two winning teams of the Semi-Finals will play for the Gold Medal while the two losing teams of the Semi-Finals will play for the Bronze Medal.
- The home teams for both the Bronze Medal and Gold Medal games will be the higher ranked teams as determined at the conclusion of the Preliminary Round.
- Teams are permitted to register and enter a maximum of 20 players and 3 goalkeepers into the 2010 Olympic Winter Games Men's Tournament.
- Teams must register a minimum of 15 players and 2 goalkeepers at the first Directorate meeting, held the evening before the tournament starts.
- Game Rosters are set with a maximum of 20 players and 2 goalkeepers per team.
- The third goalkeeper can be added to a game following the IIHF Bylaws.
- There will be no addition of new players to the rosters once the maximum number of players is entered by the respective team.
Preliminary Round:Qualification Playoff:Quarter-Final Round:Semi-Final Round:Bronze Medal Game:Gold Medal Game: |
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