| Ice hockey at the 1998 Winter Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Qualification | ||
| men | ||
| Tournament | ||
| men | women | |
| Rosters | ||
| men | women | |
Qualification for the men's ice hockey tournament at the 1998 Winter Olympics was determined by the standings of the 1995 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. 14 nations qualified: the hosts (Japan) and the top eight teams in the 1995 tournament received automatic berths, while lower ranked teams had the opportunity to qualify for the remaining five spots. [1]
| Event | Date | Location | Vacancies | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hosts | 15 June 1991 [2] |  Birmingham [a] | 1 |  Japan |
| 1995 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships | 7 May 1995 |  Stockholm and Gävle | 8 |  Finland Sweden  Canada  Czech Republic  Russia  United States  Italy  France |
| Final qualification tournaments | 6 – 11 February 1997 |  Oberhausen | 2 | Germany  Slovakia |
 Innsbruck | 2 |  Belarus  Kazakhstan | ||
| Duisburg | 1 | Austria [b] | ||
| Total | 14 |
| 26 January 1996 | Hungary  | 7–0 (1–0, 4–0, 2–0) |  Croatia | Székesfehérvár |
| 28 January 1996 | Hungary | 6–0 (1–0, 3–0, 2–0) | Croatia | Székesfehérvár |
| Hungary won two games to nil and advanced to regional pre-qualification. |
| 31 January 1996 | Israel  | 2–10 (1–5, 1–4, 0–1) |  Greece | Metula |
| Israel was awarded a 5–0 win after Greece forfeited the original result due to an ineligible player. |
| 23 March 1996 | Yugoslavia  | 5–3 (2–1, 0–2, 3–0) | Israel | Kaunas, Lithuania |
| Yugoslavia was awarded a 5–0 win after Israel forfeited the original result due to ineligible players, and advanced to regional pre-qualification. |
Five nations played each other twice (home and away) from 25 October 1995 to 21 December 1996.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Switzerland | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 42 | 14 | +28 | 14 | Final Olympic qualification |
| 2 | Great Britain | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 31 | 15 | +16 | 13 | |
| 3 |  Denmark | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 23 | 28 | −5 | 7 | |
| 4 |  Slovenia | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 32 | 24 | +8 | 6 | |
| 5 |  Netherlands | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 55 | −47 | 0 |
| 25 October 1995 | Great Britain | 4–1 (2–0, 2–1, 0–0) | Netherlands | Milton Keynes |
| 4 November 1995 | Denmark | 4–2 (0–1, 4–0, 0–1) | Slovenia | Rødovre |
| 13 December 1995 | Great Britain | 1–1 (1–0, 0–0, 0–1) | Denmark | Milton Keynes |
| 20 December 1995 | Switzerland | 2–2 (1–0, 1–1, 0–1) | Great Britain | Lausanne |
| 21 December 1995 | Netherlands | 0–8 (0–2, 0–2, 0–4) | Slovenia | Eindhoven |
| 23 December 1995 | Netherlands | 1–7 (0–2, 1–1, 0–4) | Switzerland | Zoetermeer |
| 17 January 1996 | Slovenia | 4–5 (2–1, 0–3, 2–1) | Great Britain | Ljubljana |
| 7 February 1996 | Switzerland | 5–3 (2–3, 0–0, 3–0) | Slovenia | Chur |
| 7 February 1996 | Denmark | 2–3 (1–1, 0–2, 1–0) | Great Britain | Rødovre |
| 10 February 1996 | Denmark | 2–6 (0–2, 1–3, 1–1) | Switzerland | Rødovre |
| 3 April 1996 | Slovenia | 1–4 (0–2, 0–2, 1–0) | Switzerland | Jesenice |
| 6 April 1996 | Switzerland | 7–1 (1–0, 3–0, 3–1) | Netherlands | Rapperswil |
| 29 October 1996 | Slovenia | 5–1 (1–0, 2–1, 2–0) | Denmark | Ljubljana |
| 2 November 1996 | Denmark | 4–0 (0–0, 3–0, 1–0) | Netherlands | Odense |
| 6 November 1996 | Slovenia | 9–0 (4–0, 2–0, 3–0) | Netherlands | Celje |
| 12 November 1996 | Great Britain | 5–0 (3–0, 2–0, 0–0) | Slovenia | Sheffield |
| 12 December 1996 | Netherlands | 2–8 (1–3, 1–4, 0–1) | Great Britain | Heerenveen |
| 15 December 1996 | Netherlands | 3–8 (0–4, 2–3, 1–1) | Denmark | Nijmegen |
| 18 December 1996 | Great Britain | 3–3 (2–2, 1–1, 0–0) | Switzerland | Sheffield |
| 21 December 1996 | Switzerland | 8–1 (4–0, 2–1, 2–0) | Denmark | Kloten |
The tournament was played in Tychy, Poland, from 17 to 22 December 1996.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ukraine | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 51 | 3 | +48 | 7 | Final Olympic qualification |
| 2 |  Poland | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 8 | +28 | 7 | |
| 3 |  Romania | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 22 | −3 | 4 | |
| 4 |  Bulgaria | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 40 | −33 | 2 | |
| 5 | Yugoslavia | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 48 | −40 | 0 |
| 17 December 1996 | Yugoslavia | 2–13 (1–4, 0–5, 1–4) | Poland | Tychy |
| 17 December 1996 | Bulgaria | 2–7 (0–0, 0–3, 2–4) | Romania | Tychy |
| 18 December 1996 | Ukraine | 21–0 (10–0, 6–0, 5–0) | Yugoslavia | Tychy |
| 18 December 1996 | Poland | 14–0 (5–0, 5–0, 4–0) | Bulgaria | Tychy |
| 19 December 1996 | Ukraine | 10–0 (2–0, 3–0, 5–0) | Romania | Tychy |
| 20 December 1996 | Romania | 3–6 (1–0, 1–4, 1–2) | Poland | Tychy |
| 20 December 1996 | Yugoslavia | 2–5 (0–1, 1–2, 1–2) | Bulgaria | Tychy |
| 21 December 1996 | Bulgaria | 0–17 (0–6, 0–7, 0–4) | Ukraine | Tychy |
| 22 December 1996 | Poland | 3–3 (0–1, 2–1, 1–1) | Ukraine | Tychy |
| 22 December 1996 | Romania | 9–4 (2–1, 3–2, 4–1) | Yugoslavia | Tychy |
The tournament was played in Riga, Latvia, from 27 August to 1 September 1996.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belarus | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 4 | +50 | 8 | Final Olympic qualification |
| 2 |  Latvia | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 53 | 6 | +47 | 6 | |
| 3 | Hungary | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 31 | −12 | 4 | |
| 4 |  Estonia | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 41 | −27 | 2 | |
| 5 |  Lithuania | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 66 | −58 | 0 |
| 27 August 1996 | Belarus | 13–1 (3–1, 6–0, 4–0) | Hungary | Riga |
| 27 August 1996 | Lithuania | 0–27 (0–10, 0–8, 0–9) | Latvia | Riga |
| 28 August 1996 | Hungary | 9–4 (3–2, 2–0, 4–2) | Lithuania | Riga |
| 28 August 1996 | Estonia | 1–16 (0–3, 1–6, 0–7) | Belarus | Riga |
| 29 August 1996 | Latvia | 15–0 (3–0, 7–0, 5–0) | Estonia | Riga |
| 29 August 1996 | Belarus | 21–1 (7–1, 5–0, 9–0) | Lithuania | Riga |
| 30 August 1996 | Hungary | 2–10 (1–4, 1–2, 0–4) | Latvia | Riga |
| 31 August 1996 | Lithuania | 3–9 (0–2, 2–1, 1–6) | Estonia | Riga |
| 1 September 1996 | Estonia | 4–7 (0–3, 1–2, 3–2) | Hungary | Riga |
| 1 September 1996 | Latvia | 1–4 (1–3, 0–1, 0–0) | Belarus | Riga |
The men's tournament at the 1996 Asian Winter Games was used as a qualifying tournament and was played in Harbin, China, from 5 to 8 February 1996. Japan participated but already qualified for the 1998 Winter Olympics as hosts, so are excluded from this table.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kazakhstan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 1 | +28 | 4 | Final Olympic qualification |
| 2 |  China | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 22 | −16 | 2 | |
| 3 |  South Korea | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 15 | −12 | 0 |
| 5 February 1996 | China | 6–2 (2–2, 1–0, 3–0) | South Korea | Baqu Arena, Harbin |
| 6 February 1996 | Kazakhstan | 20–0 (8–0, 8–0, 4–0) | China | Baqu Arena, Harbin |
| 8 February 1996 | South Korea | 1–9 (0–3, 0–3, 1–3) | Kazakhstan | Baqu Arena, Harbin |
The top two from each group qualified for the 1998 Winter Olympics, while the two third placed nations played for the final spot in a playoff.
Played in Oberhausen, Germany, from 6 to 9 February 1997.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 5 | 1998 Winter Olympics |
| 2 | Slovakia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 3 | |
| 3 | Switzerland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 3 | Playoff |
| 4 | Ukraine | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 1 |
| 6 February 1997 | Slovakia | 3–3 (0–0, 2–1, 1–2) | Switzerland | Oberhausen |
| 6 February 1997 | Germany | 4–4 (0–0, 2–2, 2–2) | Ukraine | Oberhausen |
| 7 February 1997 | Slovakia | 4–1 (1–0, 2–1, 1–0) | Ukraine | Oberhausen |
| 7 February 1997 | Switzerland | 1–4 (1–2, 0–1, 0–1) | Germany | Oberhausen |
| 9 February 1997 | Ukraine | 1–2 (1–0, 0–0, 0–2 | Switzerland | Oberhausen |
| 9 February 1997 | Germany | 3–2 (1–0, 1–1, 1–1) | Slovakia | Oberhausen |
Played in Innsbruck, Austria, from 6 to 9 February 1997.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belarus | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 4 | 1998 Winter Olympics |
| 2 | Kazakhstan | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 8 | +3 | 4 | |
| 3 | Austria | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 11 | −4 | 2 | Playoff |
| 4 |  Norway | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 2 |
| 6 February 1997 | Norway | 3–3 (1–1, 1–2, 1–0) | Kazakhstan | Innsbruck |
| 6 February 1997 | Austria | 2–6 (0–2, 1–1, 1–3) | Belarus | Innsbruck |
| 8 February 1997 | Belarus | 2–2 (1–1, 0–0, 1–1) | Norway | Innsbruck |
| 8 February 1997 | Austria | 1–4 (0–1, 1–1, 0–2) | Kazakhstan | Innsbruck |
| 9 February 1997 | Kazakhstan | 4–4 (1–1, 2–3, 1–0) | Belarus | Innsbruck |
| 9 February 1997 | Norway | 1–4 (0–2, 0–1, 1–1) | Austria | Innsbruck |
| 11 February 1997 | Austria | 2–0 (0–0, 1–0, 1–0) | Switzerland | Duisburg, Germany |
| Austria qualified for 1998 Winter Olympics. |