2006 Olympic Qualifying

[SwissGCZ]

As reported earlier on this web site, the top eight countries in the World Ranking after this tournament automatically qualify for Torino. They are Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, and USA. Italy (WR 19) also gets an automatic spot as host nation. That means that 21 other countries will soon begin the qualifying process to see which three will fill the final spots for the Olympics less than two years from now.
http://www.ihwc.net/english/article/news/index.ihwc?&artId=1847

[Daniel from Montréal]

This is the way to do it! 12 teams at the Olympics, 8 go throught to the quarters. Not that many blowouts, teams that are all at least decent and potential for a 1st-round upset.

Compare that to the 2002 formula which was ridiculous: 10 teams in a qualifying round before the NHL break (which meant Slovakia had like 8 players on their bench hoping to get through) and then all 8 teams in the main tournament through to the quarters, rendering the round-robin completely useless except for seeding. Thank God we had Belarus (for the surprise factor) and Canadian gold (for me :D ), because that was a pretty ill-conceived format, right up there with the Gold Cup ;) .

[SweetOwnGoal]

Slovakia, simply put, got screwed in both Salt Lake and Nagano. I'm glad that they don't have to go through the stupidity of a qualifying round with less than their full side this time around.

You gotta like Switzerland and a couple of former Soviet republics for the final three spots.

And God help the Italians... Does anyone know if they are trying to build a team of actual Italians (and thus use the opportunity to build for the future) or if it will just be a bunch of ex-pats who grew up in Vaughn....(that's a suburb of Toronto for those unaware).

[DoyleG]

The question to ask is if the pros are going to be at 2006?

The IIHF boss stated that the NHL might be shut out of Turin if their is no CBA by January.

[SwissGCZ]

You gotta like Switzerland and a couple of former Soviet republics for the final three spots.
Don't forget the Austrians, they had a very strong showing this year.

It's too bad Switzerland didn't manage to pull off an upset against Slovakia (after putting up a good fight) - that would have put us at eight in the world ranking (at the expense of Germany). Oh well, we should qualify either way...

My picks are Switzerland, Austria, and Latvia.
(The home advantage will help)

[SwissGCZ]

How the IIHF World Ranking is calculated:
http://www.iihf.com/hockey/worldranking/worldranking.htm

[SweetOwnGoal]

How the IIHF World Ranking is calculated:
http://www.iihf.com/hockey/worldranking/worldranking.htm

This ranking system might just be worse than FIFA's!

USA #6...sure....

The World Cup should be included and the Olympics need to have a higher weight (best-on-best tournaments). I might even factor in the u-20's, as they are a great barometer for upcoming talent.

I don't think, right now, #1 is debatable though.....

[DoyleG]

US Placings for the past World Championships
2000: 5th
2001: 4th
2002: 7th
2003: 13th
2004: 3rd

6th is a quite fair ranking.

Strange not seeing the UK try and qualify for Torino.

[SweetOwnGoal]

US Placings for the past World Championships
2000: 5th
2001: 4th
2002: 7th
2003: 13th
2004: 3rd

6th is a quite fair ranking.

Strange not seeing the UK try and qualify for Torino.

Doyle,

Is the US the 6th best hockey nation?

No, in a best on best situation it clearly isn't; its probably 2nd.

My point was that looking only at the WC is a bad way to create a world ranking.