With fewer than 500 days to go until the [b]XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver[/b], the eight women’s ice hockey teams which will be taking part in the Olympic tournament in February 2010 are already known. The last two places were allocated at the Olympic qualifying competitions in Bad Tölz (Germany) and Shanghai (China). The Slovak and Chinese players will join their American, Canadian, Finnish, Russian, Swedish and Swiss counterparts, who had already qualified.
13 to 25 February 2010
From 13 to 25 February, Canada Hockey Place and the UBC Thunderbird Arena will be hosting the competitions for the two Olympic tournament groups and deciding which team will succeed Canada.
Group A: Canada, Sweden, Switzerland and Slovakia
Group B: USA, Finland, Russia and China
The final schedule for the women’s competition will be known by the end of December 2008 or early January 2009, as with the men’s tournament.
Three men’s places left
In the men’s tournament, we shall have to wait until February 2009 to know the names of the last three teams going to Vancouver with their American, Canadian, Belarusian, Finnish, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Swiss and Czech counterparts.
Related stories:
Slovakia’s reward: Canada
[b]China joins Slovakia for 2010[/b]
[b]Find out more about ice hockey[/b]
[b]Vancouver 2010 official site[/b]