COPENHAGEN – The Danish Ice Hockey Association (DIU) announced that the Men’s Final Olympic Qualification Group F will be hosted in Vojens in the south of the country.

The venue will be the 2011-built SE Arena in Vojens, home of Danish top club SønderjyskE.

“The clearly most important reason for us in choosing the venue was to ensure the best possible fan support for the three games we will play in February,” said Enver Hansen, the CEO of the Danish Ice Hockey Association. “In addition, the organization and facilities at the SE Arena are top.”

“In Vojens we have a fantastic crowd you can see and hear, and we are sure that spectators from Southern Jutland and other parts of Denmark will fill the arena so our players will be backed by 5,000 fans when entering the arena.”

It will be the first time for Denmark to host a Final Olympic Qualification tournament thanks to the national team’s improvement to 12th place in the 2012 IIHF World Ranking.

The Danish national team aims to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games for the first time in hockey history. Four years ago it failed with a second-place finish behind host Norway in the Final Olympic Qualification.

The top-nine countries of the 2012 IIHF World Ranking are pre-qualified for the men’s ice hockey tournament at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi while the 24 other nations that entered a team have to go through qualification events. The countries ranked 10th to 12th have the right to host one of the three Final Olympic Qualification tournaments: Germany (in Bietigheim-Bissingen), Latvia (in Riga) and Denmark (in Vojens).

The winner of each tournament will be qualified for the 12-team men’s ice hockey tournament in Sochi 2014.

Denmark will battle for the ticket to Sochi against Belarus, Slovenia and the highest-seeded tournament winner from the Olympic Pre-Qualification. The dates are 7-10 February 2013.

Click here for all Olympic Qualification events.

MARTIN MERK