| Ice hockey at the XXV Olympic Winter Games | |
|---|---|
 Ice hockey pictogram at the 2026 Winter Olympics | |
| Venues | PalaItalia Fiera Milano |
| Dates | 5–22 February |
| No. of events | 2 (1 men and 1 women) |
| Competitors | 530 from 13 nations |
| Ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Qualification | ||
| men | women | |
| Tournament | ||
| men | women | |
| Rosters | ||
| men | women | |
Theice hockey competitions of the2026 Winter Olympics will be played at two venues located in theMilan cluster: thePalaItalia and one of theFiera Milano pavilions.
The men's tournament will have 12 teams competing, and the women's tournament 10.[1]Russia andBelarus are currently banned from competing in international championships through the IIHF's 2026 program due to theirmilitary aggression in Ukraine.[2][3]
| PalaItalia Santa Giulia | Fiera Milano |
|---|---|
| PalaItalia |  |
| Milan | Milan |
Ice hockey competitions are scheduled to start one day before theOpening Ceremony with the following schedule:[4]
| PR | Preliminary round | PO | Playoffs | QF | Quarter-finals | SF | Semi-finals | B | Bronze-medal match | G | Gold-medal match |
Date Event | Wed 4 | Thu 5 | Fri 6 | Sat 7 | Sun 8 | Mon 9 | Tue 10 | Wed 11 | Thu 12 | Fri 13 | Sat 14 | Sun 15 | Mon 16 | Tue 17 | Wed 18 | Thu 19 | Fri 20 | Sat 21 | Sun 22 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men's tournament | PR | PR | PR | PR | PR | PO | QF | SF | B | G | ||||||||||
| Women's tournament | PR | PR | PR | PR | PR | PR | QF | QF | SF | B | G | |||||||||
The tournament will feature twelve countries, eight qualifying through theIIHF World Ranking, the hostItaly, and three through qualifying tournaments. The format remains the same as the previous three Olympics; three groups of four compete in three games to determine seeding, each play every other team in their group, followed by four rounds of elimination games. Each group winner receives a bye into the second round, along with the highest ranked of the remaining teams. The remaining eight teams play an eliminating qualification game to advance to the quarter-final round. Each quarter-final winner advances to the semi-finals with the winners playing for the gold medal and the losers playing for the bronze.
On 2 February 2024, the IIHF announced that an agreement had been reached with theNational Hockey League (NHL) for a break in its regular season to allow the league's players to participate in the Olympics for the first time since 2014. The NHL was originally scheduled to compete in 2022 as well but opted out due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[5]
Qualification for the men's tournament at the2026 Winter Olympics was determined by theIIHF World Ranking following the2023 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. The top eight will join the hosts and three qualifiers.[1]
The groups were established following the2023 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships.[6] Qualifiers one, two and three are the winners of the final qualification tournaments. Their designation was determined by theirqualification seeding.
| Group A | Group B | Group C |
|---|---|---|
Ten countries will again compete in the women's tournament, six qualifying through theIIHF World Ranking, the hostItaly, and three through qualifying tournaments.
Qualification for the women's tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics was determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the2024 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships.[1]
The groups were established following the2024 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. Qualifiers one, two, and three are the winners of the final qualification tournaments. Their designation was determined by theirqualification seeding.
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
| Nations | Men | Women | Athletes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Canada |  | | 48 |
 Czech Republic | | | 48 |
 Denmark | | 25 | |
 Finland | | | 48 |
 France[a] | | | 48 |
 Germany | | | 48 |
 Italy | | | 48 |
 Japan | | 23 | |
 Latvia | | 25 | |
 Slovakia | | 25 | |
 Sweden | | | 48 |
 Switzerland | | | 48 |
 United States | | | 48 |
| Total: 13 NOCs | 12 | 10 | 530 |
