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how does olympic hockey tournament work

Olympic hockey is built around a short group stage that sets up a win‑or‑go‑home knockout bracket for the medals.

How does Olympic hockey tournament work?

Big-picture structure

  • Both men’s and women’s hockey use a group stage first, then a single-elimination playoff bracket.
  • Points in the group stage follow IIHF rules:
    • 3 points for a win in regulation
    • 2 points for an overtime or shootout win
    • 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss
    • 0 points for a regulation loss.
  • After groups, teams are ranked and seeded into a bracket that leads to quarterfinals, semifinals, and gold/bronze medal games.

Men’s tournament format

  • There are 12 teams , split into 3 groups of 4 for the preliminary round.
  • Each team plays 3 round-robin games (everyone in its group once).
  • When group play ends:
    • The winner of each group and the best remaining team overall (based on points and tiebreakers such as goal difference) get a bye straight to the quarterfinals.
* The other 8 teams play a **qualification playoff round** (essentially a play‑in) to fill the remaining quarterfinal spots.
  • From the quarterfinals onward, it’s single-elimination :
    • Quarterfinals → Semifinals → Gold medal game, with a bronze medal game between the losing semifinalists.
  • Typical roster size is 25 players (22 skaters + 3 goalies), with 20 skaters and 2 goalies dressed for each game.

Women’s tournament format

  • There are 10 teams , split into 2 groups of 5.
  • Each team plays 4 group games (everyone in its group once).
  • Groups are “power‑seeded”:
    • Group A has the five highest-ranked teams.
    • Group B has the next five teams.
  • All five Group A teams automatically reach the quarterfinals , regardless of results.
  • From Group B , only the top three teams advance to the quarterfinals.
  • The quarterfinal bracket then proceeds the same way as the men’s:
    • Quarterfinals → Semifinals → Gold medal game + bronze medal game.

Overtime, shootouts, and rules

Olympic hockey uses IIHF rules, which are a bit stricter and slightly different from the NHL.

  • Intermissions : Generally 15 minutes instead of the NHL’s 18.
  • Overtime in group stage :
    • If tied after regulation, teams play a 5-minute sudden‑death 3‑on‑3 overtime , then a shootout if still tied.
  • Overtime in knockout games (quarters/semis) :
    • A 10-minute 3‑on‑3 overtime , then a shootout if still tied.
  • Gold medal game :
    • Played like playoff hockey: full 20‑minute sudden‑death periods (5‑on‑5 or 3‑on‑3 depending on current IIHF spec) repeated until someone scores , with no deciding shootout for the title.
  • IIHF officiating means less tolerance for fighting and dangerous hits ; fighting leads to ejection rather than five‑minute majors and “let them go” like the NHL sometimes allows.

Example: one team’s path

To visualize it, imagine a men’s team placed in Group B:

  1. Plays 3 group games and finishes second in its group.
  1. If its record isn’t strong enough to be the extra bye team, it plays a qualification game against a lower-seeded team from another group.
  1. Wins that game → reaches quarterfinals, then must win three straight knockout games to claim gold (quarterfinal, semifinal, final).

Every stage ramps up the stakes, which is why Olympic hockey often feels like every game can flip a country’s entire tournament.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.