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Ice Hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held at General Motors Place, home of the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks and UBC Winter Sports Centre home of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport's UBC Thunderbirds. Ice Hockey will differ from previous Winter Olympic Games in that both men's and women's hockey will be played on a narrower, NHL-sized ice rink, measuring 200 ft × 85 ft (61 m × 26 m), instead of the international size of 200 ft × 98.5 ft (61 m × 30 m). This change is expected to save $10 million (CAD) in construction costs and allow more than 35,000 more spectators to attend Olympic hockey games.

Men's Ice Hockey

All but two games will take place at General Motors Place, where one playoff game and one quarterfinal will be played at the UBC Winter Sports Centre. The event will run from February 16, 2010 to February 23, 2010. Rosters will be limited to twenty skaters and three goalies.

Qualification

Twelve teams will qualify for the Ice Hockey event. The top nine teams in the IIHF World Ranking after the 2008 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships will receive automatic births into the Ice Hockey event. Teams ranked 10th through 30th will have an opportunity to qualify for the event. Teams ranked 19th through 30th will play in a first qualification round in November of 2008, where the top three teams from the round advance to the second qualification round. Teams ranked 10th through 18th will join 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 will advance to the Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament.

In previous years, the twelve teams were placed in three pools of four, the top team of each pool advances in both qualification rounds.

Qualified Teams

The following teams have assured themselves a spot in the Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament:
 Sweden
 Canada (also qualifies as host nation)
 Finland
 Czech Republic

Note: The lowest any of the above teams can finish in the 2008 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships is 16th place. Even with a 16th place finish, the teams cannot be ranked lower then 9th place.

Note:  Russia can finish ranked no worst then tied for 9th place. A 16th place finish for  Russia and a 1st place finish for  Latvia would leave the two teams tied in 9th place.

Tournament Format

The twelve qualified teams will be divided into three groups of four for a preliminary round. A first group will hold the 1st, 6th, 7th and 12th seed. A second group will hold the 2nd, 5th, 8th and 11th seed. A third group will hold the 3rd, 4th, 9th and 10th seed. Teams will play one another in their group and then the teams will be reseeding from 1st through 12th.

The following is seeding criteria to be used (considered in order, if a tie takes place, movement to the next criterion):
*Higher position in their group standings
*Higher number of points; better goal difference
*Higher number of goals for
*Better 2009 IIHF World Ranking.

After the preliminary round, the three group winners as well as the best second-place team – will automatically qualify for the quarterfinals. The eight teams that do not receive automatic qualification will play sudden-death playoff games (Team 5/12; Team 6/11; Team 7/10 ; and, Team 8/9). Playoff games winners qualify to the quarterfinals where they will meet the automatic qualifiers. A standard bracket will take place where quarterfinal winners meet in the semifinals; semifinal winners meet for the gold medal while semifinal losers meet for the bronze medal. The bronze medal game will be played on February 27, 2010 and the gold medal game will be played on February 28, 2010.

Women's Ice Hockey

A majority of games will be held at the UBC Winter Sports Centre, with the semifinals and medal matches at General Motors Place. The event will run from February 13, 2010 to February 25, 2010. Rosters will be limited to eighteen skaters and two goalies.

Qualification

Eight total teams will qualify for the Women's event. The top six teams in the IIHF World Ranking after the 2008 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships will receive automatic births into the Ice Hockey event. Teams ranked 7th through 18th will have an opportunity to qualify for the event. Teams ranked 13th through 18th will play in a first qualification round in September of 2008, where the top two teams from the round advance to the second qualification round. Teams ranked 7th through 12th will join the two top teams from the first qualifying round to play in a second qualifying round in November, 2008. The top two teams from the second qualifying round will advance to the Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament.

Qualified Teams

 Canada (as host nation)

Tournament Format

Qualified teams will be seeded into two groups of four. Teams in each group will play one another once. 1st and 2nd place teams in each group advance to the medal round while 3rd and 4th place teams in each group advance to the playoff round. Bracket will take place in each round, where semifinal winners meet in final matches while semifinal losers play one another. Both the gold medal match and bronze medal match will take place on February 25, 2010.

References

1. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Olympics/2010Vancouver/2006/06/08/1620669-sun.html VANOC shrinks Olympic ice
2. http://www.canada.com/topics/sports/story.html?id=8bbd29a3-1b09-411f-8efc-21c1ca6ca823&k=72793 VANOC saves $10 million by having Olympic hockey tourney played on NHL ice
3. http://www.iihf.com/news/iihfpr9706.htm
4. http://www.iihf.com/news/iihfpr9706.htm
5. http://www.iihf.com/news/iihfpr9706.htm
6. http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/championships/olympics/olympics-women.html
7. http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/championships/olympics/olympics-women.html