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Ice hockey at the XXI Olympic Winter Games
Venues	Canada Hockey Place UBC Winter Sports Centre
Dates	13–28 February 2010
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Ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Qualification
	men	women
Tournament
	men	women
Rosters
	men	women
v t e

Ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held at Canada Hockey Place, home of the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks, and at UBC Winter Sports Centre, home of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport's UBC Thunderbirds. Twelve teams are competing in the men's event and eight teams in the women's event.

Changes from previous tournaments

The 2010 tournament marks the first time since NHL players have been allowed to compete that the Olympics will be held in a city with an NHL team. For the first time, Olympic games will be played on a narrower NHL-sized ice rink, measuring 61 m × 26 m (200 ft × 85 ft), instead of the international size of 61 m × 30 m (200 ft × 98.4 ft). This change is expected to save $10 million (CAD) in construction costs and allow more spectators to attend games.

This will also be the first Olympics in which the four-official system, with two referees and two linesmen, will be used during the men's tournament. The NHL began using the two-referee system in the 1998–99 season, while the IIHF first started using it in its major men's championship tournaments in the 2008 IIHF World Championship. However, for the women's tournament in Vancouver, the IIHF still plans to only use the standard three-official system with one referee and two linesmen, saying that the four-official system is not currently needed in women's international hockey.

Venues

The games of the 2010 tournament will be held at the 6,800 seat UBC Winter Sports Centre and 18,810 seat General Motors Place, which is to be renamed Canada Hockey Place during the event because corporate sponsorship is not allowed for an Olympic venue.

Impact on the Vancouver Canucks

The games of the tournament will force the Canucks to play the longest road trip in NHL history, playing 14 games over six weeks, from 27 January to 13 March, so that GM Place could be prepared for the tournament. Because of the Olympics, the ice surface and boards need to be devoid of advertising and some seating areas will be converted to press rows for the duration of the games.

Men's tournament

Following negotiations in the National Hockey League's collective bargaining agreement, an agreement was reached allowing NHL participation in both the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics. Some NHL team owners opposed having their players participate in the tournament because of concerns that the league's players could get injured or become exhausted. Several players were injured during the 2006 Winter Olympics and were forced to miss NHL games. Gary Bettman addressed the issue saying that several format changes were being discussed, so that the tournament would be "a little easier for everybody."

Qualification

Qualification for the men's tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics was structured around the 2008 IIHF World Ranking. The top nine teams in the World Ranking after the 2008 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships received automatic berths into the Olympics, while the teams ranked 10th through 30th had an opportunity to qualify for the remaining three spots in the Olympics. Teams ranked 19th through 30th played in a first qualification round in November 2008, where the top three teams from the round advance to the second qualification round. Teams ranked 10th through 18th joined the three top teams from the first qualifying round to play in a second qualification round. The top three teams from the second qualifying round advanced to the Olympic tournament.

Format

The twelve teams in the men's event are seeded into three groups of four teams. The NHL break began after February 14 and the tournament started on February 16. In the Preliminary Round, a team plays one game against every other team in its own group (for a total of 18 Preliminary Round games). Following the completion of the preliminary round, the teams are ranked 1 through 12 based on the results. The top four ranked teams receive byes to the quarterfinals, with the remaining eight teams playing for the remaining four quarterfinal positions. Following that, the final eight teams play elimination rounds to determine the gold and silver medals, and the two losing teams of the semi-finals play for the bronze medal. Each team is allowed to have 20 skaters (forwards and defensemen) and two or three goaltenders, all of whom must be citizens of the country they represent.

Participating nations

Twelve teams will compete in the men's ice hockey tournament.

Women's tournament

Qualification

The women's tournament used a qualification format similar to the system used for the men's tournament. The top six teams in the IIHF Women's World Ranking after the 2008 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships received automatic berths into the Ice Hockey event. Lower ranked teams had an opportunity to qualify for the event. Teams ranked 13th and below were divided into two groups where they played in a first qualification round in September 2008. The two group winners from the round advanced to the second qualification round, where the teams ranked seventh through twelfth joined them.

Format

The eight teams will be split into two divisions of four teams and each team will play three preliminary games. Following the completion of the preliminary round, the top two teams from each division will advance to the medal round and compete in a playoff to determine the gold medalist. The other four will play classification games. Each team is allowed to have between 15 and 18 skaters (forwards and defensemen) and either two or three goaltenders.

See also

• Ice sledge hockey at the 2010 Winter Paralympics

References

1. "VANOC shrinks Olympic ice". The Vancouver Sun. Canadian Online Explorer. 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
2. ^ "IIHF says one ref is good enough for women's hockey". 2009-04-07. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
3. "2010 Olympic Format decided". IIHF. 2007-03-30. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
4. "Venues–UBC Thunderbird Arena". Vancouver Organizing Committee. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
5. "GM Place to get new name for 2010". CTV News. 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
6. "Venues–Canada Hockey Place". Vancouver Organizing Committee. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
7. "Olympics put Canucks on record road grind". CBC Sports. Canadian Press. 2009-07-16. Retrieved 2009-07-16.
8. Sekeres, Matthew (2009-07-15). "Canucks take one for the Olympic team". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2009-07-16.
9. LeBrun, Pierre (2005-07-22). "2010 Olympics needs to ratify deal IIHF". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
10. Hornby, Lance (2006). "Some owners cool to Olympic flame". Toronto Sun. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
11. Canadian Press (2006-02-24). "Hockey changes likely for 2010 games". The Sports Network. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
12. "Men's Olympic format 2010, four-man official system". Retrieved 2010-02-18.
13. "Qualification". IIHF. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
14. ^ "2010 OWG Men's Tournament Playing Format". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
15. "Germany, Norway round out 2010 Olympic men's hockey". TSN. 2009-02-08. Retrieved 2009-02-09.
16. ^ "Men's Tournament Program". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
17. "IIHF Eligibility". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
18. ^ "Women's Tournament Program". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
19. "Women's Tournament Schedule Proposal". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 2009-03-04.

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