Slovakia, Latvia and Denmark men’s hockey teams all earned spots in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games, each winning a final qualification tournament for a second consecutive Olympic cycle.
Slovakia, the 2022 Olympic bronze medalist (without NHL players), beat Kazakhstan 3-1 in the final game of its tournament in Bratislava on Sunday.
For the second consecutive Olympic cycle, Latvia beat France and Denmark beat Norway in winner-take-all qualification games.
Latvia topped France 5-2 in Riga to qualify for the sixth time in the last seven Olympic cycles. France last qualified for the Olympics in 2002.
Host Denmark prevailed 4-1 over Norway to qualify for its second Olympics after making its Olympic debut in 2022.
Previously, the top eight nations in the world ranking after the 2023 World Championship qualified for the 12-team Olympic tournament: Canada, Finland, Russia, the U.S., Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Czechia. Plus Italy gets an automatic spot as host nation.
Russia has been banned from international hockey since shortly after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. If the ban is not lifted for the 2026 Winter Games, then Russia will be replaced in the Olympic field by France, which was the highest-ranked second-place team from the three final qualification tournaments (thanks to goal differential).
The 2026 Winter Olympics men’s hockey groups:
A: Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy
B: Finland, Germany, Czechia, Denmark
C: Russia (if suspension is lifted), U.S., Slovakia, Latvia
Groups if Russia’s suspension is not lifted:
A: Canada, Switzerland, Czechia, France
B: Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Italy
C: U.S., Germany, Latvia, Denmark
Traditionally, the three group winners, plus the highest-ranked second-place team from the three groups advance directly to the Olympic quarterfinals. The eight remaining teams play in a playoff round to determine the other four quarterfinalists.
This past February, the NHL, the NHL Players’ Association and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) came to terms for NHL players to participate in the Olympics for the first time since 2014 with details to be finalized.