Ice hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics
at the XXIII Olympic Winter Games | |
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| File:Ice Hockey, Pyeongchang 2018.svg | |
| Venues | Gangneung Hockey Centre Kwandong Hockey Centre |
| Dates | 10–25 February 2018 |
| No. of events | 2 (1 men, 1 women) |
| Competitors | 496 from 14 nations |
| Men's ice hockey at the XXIII Olympic Winter Games | ||||||||||
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| Medalists | ||||||||||
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| Women's ice hockey at the XXIII Olympic Winter Games | ||||||||||
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| Medalists | ||||||||||
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| Ice hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics | ||
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 | ||
| Qualification | ||
| men | women | |
| Tournament | ||
| men | women | |
| Rosters | ||
| men | women | |
The ice hockey competitions of the 2018 Winter Olympics were played at two venues within the Gangneung Coastal Cluster in Gangneung, South Korea. The Gangneung Hockey Centre, which seats 10,000, and the Kwandong Hockey Centre, which seats 6,000, were both originally scheduled to be completed in 2016 but appear to have been completed in early 2017.[1][2][3][4] Both venues contain Olympic-sized rinks (60 by 30 m (196.85 by 98.43 ft)).
Twelve teams competed in the men's tournament, which was to be held from 14 to 25 February, while eight teams competed in the women's tournament, from 10 to 22 February.[5] In a historic deal, the women's tournament featured a combined Korean team with an expanded roster.[6]
Medal summary
Medal table
| 1 |  Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 United States (USA) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 3 |  Canada (CAN) |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 |  Germany (GER) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 |  Finland (FIN) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Medalists
Men's tournament
The tournament featured 12 countries, eight qualifying through the IIHF World Ranking, 3 through subsequent qualifying tournaments, and the host South Korea men's national ice hockey team.[7] The format were the same as 2010 and 2014; three groups of four competed in three games to determine seeding, each playing every other team in their group, followed by four rounds of elimination games. Each group winner received a bye into the second round, along with the highest ranked of the remaining teams. The remaining eight teams played an eliminating qualification game to advance to the quarter-final round. Each quarter-final winner advanced to the semi-finals with the winners playing for the gold medal and the losers playing for the bronze.[8]
Qualification
Qualification was determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the 2015 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships.[8] The top eight teams in the World Ranking receive automatic berths into the Olympics, the host received an automatic berth, and the remaining teams competed to qualify for the remaining three spots. In April 2014 René Fasel indicated that the Koreans would need a ranking of 18th or better[9] but in September of the same year the policy was apparently changed to guarantee the host a position.[10]
NHL players
On 3 April 2017, the National Hockey League announced that its players would not be made available for selection for the national teams in the 2018 Winter Olympics. While it was "open to hearing from any of the other parties who might have an interest in the issue", the NHL "confirmed that it has no interest or intention of engaging in any discussion that might make Olympic participation more attractive to the Clubs" and that it would not schedule a break for the Olympics in the 2017–18 season; to compensate, the NHL scheduled its all-star game and league-wide bye week for January, a month before the Olympics.[11] The primary disagreement between the NHL, IIHF, and IOC appears to have been over who would pay to insure players.[12] The IOC agreed to insure the players for the 2014 Olympics at a cost of $14 million, but was unwilling to pay again.[11] IOC appeared concerned that if it continued to cover the costs of NHL players, other professional bodies would demand similar treatment.[13] NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman noted that the NHL does not directly profit from their presence in the Olympics and that the IOC's ambush marketing rules make it difficult for the league to capitalize on its players' participation, adding that, "in fact, we kind of disappear for two weeks because historically the IOC hasn't even let us join in promoting our participation in the Olympics".[12]
The American Hockey League, a minor professional league that has largely acted as a development league for the NHL, stated that it would allow its players to be loaned to national teams for the duration of the Olympics (although like the NHL, there will not be a break in the season for the Games). CBC Sports reported that AHL players under two-way contracts with NHL affiliates would still be prohibited from attending, but deputy commissioner Bill Daly denied the claim.[14][15] Two weeks later, Daly reversed that position and stated that AHL players on two-way contracts would indeed be prohibited from the Olympics.
In July, American television company NBC Sports announced that it would not air any NHL games during the Winter Olympics on any of its national networks. However, in January they added three NHL noon games on NBC.[16]
Unlike NHL, vast majority of European leagues will accommodate an Olympic break, headlined by Russia-based KHL's 33-days break,[17] Sweden-based Swedish Hockey League's 14-days break,[18] Switzerland-based National League's 25-days break,[19] German-based Deutsche Eishockey Liga's 26-days break,[20] Czech Republic-based Extraliga's 18-days break and Slovakia-based Tipsport liga's 14-days break.[21] Conversely, Finland-based SM-liiga will not accommodate a break, but will allow its top players leave the clubs and participate in the Olympics.[22]
Women's tournament
The women's tournament will run from 10 to 22 February. Eight nations will compete. The format will be the same as 2014. The top 4 seeded teams play in group A and the next four in group B. The top two seeds from group A will receive a bye from the quarterfinal round. The bottom two group A teams will play the top two group B teams in the quarterfinal round. The winner of these two games will play the top two group A teams in the semifinal round. The winners of the semifinal round will play for the gold medal and the losers will play for the bronze.[8]
Qualification
Qualification was determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the 2016 IIHF Women's World Championship. The top five teams in the World Ranking receive automatic berths into the Olympics. South Korea gained direct entry by being host and all other teams competed to qualify for the remaining two spots.[8]
Attendance
The 2018 Winter Olympic Ice hockey tournament saw a total of 223,892 spectators. The Men’s Tournament has a total of 138,327 spectators across the 30 game event, and the Women’s tournament has 85,565 spectators across the 22 game event. The tournaments were played in two locations, the Gangneug Hockey Centre, and the Kwandong Hockey Centre. The Gangneug Hockey Centre has a maximum capacity of 10,000 spectators. The Kwandong Hockey Centre has a maximum capacity of 6,000 spectators.
This Winter Olympics, ice hockey tournament in South Korean there was an average attendance of 4,610 spectators for the men’s tournament, and 3,889 spectators for the women’s tournament. The top 5 teams with the highest attendance for the men’s tournament was first Korea, second Czech Republic, third Slovakia, and fourth the United States of America. For the women’s tournament it was first, the United States of America, second Korea, third Finland, and fourth Canada. [23]
Participating nations
A total of 496 athletes from 14 nations (including the IOC's designation of Olympic Athletes from Russia) were scheduled to participate (the numbers of athletes are shown in parentheses). The IOC initially admitted 13 men's or women's teams to compete. Later, North Korean athletes were rostered to participate in the women's tournament alongside South Korean athletes in a combined women's Korean team. Men's rosters can be made up of 25 players, while women's rosters can consist of up to 23. The Czech, German, Norwegian, Slovakian, and Slovenian teams entered only the men's competition, while the Japanese team alone entered only the women's competition. All other teams played in both tournaments.
References
- ^ "Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics Venues - Ice Sports". Pyeongchang2018.org. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Pyeongchang 2018 volume 2" (PDF). Pyeongchang2018.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Gangneung Hockey Centre | Venue Information | Venues | PyeongChang 2018 | PyeongChang 2018". www.pyeongchang2018.com. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
- ^ "Kwandong Hockey Centre | Venue Information | Venues | PyeongChang 2018 | PyeongChang 2018". www.pyeongchang2018.com. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
- ^ "Pyeongchang 2018 schedule". Pyeongchang2018.com. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
- ^ "Unity deal brings together North and South Korea in Pyeongchang". CBC.ca. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
- ^ "Olympic format set". IIHF.com. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
- ^ a b c d "2018 Olympic Winter Games". IIHF.com. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
- ^ "Fasel, Wu address media". IIHF.com. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
- ^ "Korea headed to the Olympics". IIHF.com. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
- ^ a b "NHL will not participate in 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games". Sportsnet.ca. Rogers Media. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
- ^ a b "Olympics and N.H.L. Face Off Over Who Pays to Insure Players". The New York Times. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
- ^ "IOC decides not to cover costs for NHL players at Olympics". Sportsnet.ca. Rogers Media. 23 April 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
- ^ "AHL players can be loaned to their national teams for the Olympics". Pension Plan Puppets (SB Nation). Retrieved 23 July 2017.
- ^ "NHL to allow AHL players to compete at Olympic Games". CBC Sports. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
- ^ As NBC Sports juggles Winter Olympics, NHL coverage, it envisions unique opportunity - Kevin Allen, USA Today, 22 January 2018
- ^ "KHL 2017/2018 Scores - Hockey Russia Live". www.icehockey24.com. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ "Ice Hockey 24: SHL 2017/2018 Fixtures". www.icehockey24.com. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ "National League 2017/2018 Scores - Hockey Switzerland Live". www.icehockey24.com. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ "DEL 2017/2018 Scores - Hockey Germany Live". www.icehockey24.com. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ "Ice Hockey 24: Tipsport Liga 2017/2018 Fixtures". www.icehockey24.com. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ "Ice Hockey 24: Liiga 2017/2018 Fixtures". www.icehockey24.com. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ "Official Result Book, 2018 Winter Olympic Ice Hockey" (PDF).
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External links
- Olympic qualification schedule, at IIHF.com.
| Overview |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Men's events | ||
| Women's events | ||
