September 1, 2024 decided the final three teams (for now) for men’s ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. Slovakia, Latvia, and Denmark each hosted groups to qualify and succeeded at winning all three games. This post recaps the final round of qualification.
Yesterday, the final three spots for Men’s Ice Hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy were decided. All three host nations for the final round of qualifications managed to prevail by winning all three of their games. It all came down to the final day as the host teams took on an opponent than won their previous two games. This meant half of the games on September 1 was a win-or-stay-home situation. The other half were just for consolation. Given that I previewed them, here is a short recap of what happened in each group.
Group D – Slovakia
As one would expect, Slovakia won the group by beating Austria, Hungary, and Kazakhstan. Unfortunately, the New Jersey Devils did not win. Simon Nemec crashed into the boards in the game against Hungary and left. The Devils decided to not let him play the final game against Kazakhstan. The severity and kind of his injury is unknown. Hopefully it is minor enough that he can be fully ready for the season opener in Czechia. If your reaction to this injury is lamenting why he even was playing then, congratulations, you now know one of the two major reasons why NHL teams have resisted sending their players to the Winter Olympics.
In any case, Slovakia’s pathway to victory was not simple. Before the tourney, Miroslav Satan invited controversy by bringing in some KHL-based Slovak players. That upset some on the team in addition to the fanbase. The first game saw the Slovaks squeak out a 2-1 win over Austria. Austria and Slovakia nearly went shot-for-shot with one another (32-30 in favor of Slovakia) and the home team struggled to beat David Kickert. Marco Kasper’s goal for Austria within the final seconds of the second period made it a tense third period. But Samuel Hlavaj was up to the task as much as Kickert was. The second game saw Slovakia smack down Hungary 7-3 but, again, lost Nemec to injury.
It all came down to the final game against Kazakhstan. While Slovakia were the favorites, one game can go any way and the Kazakhs felt good about their 5-2 win over Hungary and frustrating Austria 2-1 featuring a rare bench-clearing argument after the final whistle. Fortunately, the Slovaks could relax a bit thanks to a first period that saw goals from Robert Lantosi and Pavol Regenda. Adam Liska’s goal halfway through the second period gave the team a three-goal buffer. One that was put at risk after Nikita Mikhailis’ fourth goal of the qualifiers and Regenda getting a 10-minute misconduct before the second intermission. But the Slovaks kept it cool, denied one Kazakh PP in the third, and held on for victory. While I am sure some fans wished Slovakia stomped all three of their opponents, the goal was to get to Milan and Slovakia will head there for hockey in 2026. Nemec will surely be there.
Group E – Slovakia
Out of all three groups, this one was the least competitive. Latvia and France were both head and shoulders above Ukraine and Slovenia. And Slovenia was ahead of Ukraine too. The group play opened with France smashing the Ukrainians 7-2 followed by Latvia prevailing over the Slovenes 4-2. The second day featured a pair of 5-1 wins; France over Slovenia and Latvia or Ukraine. Ukraine earned their way into this group but are ranked as low as they are by the IIHF for a reason. Even if Slovenia had Anze Kopitar, the team just did not have enough to take on the two top teams in this group.
The final day confirmed the order of the teams. Slovenia did crush Ukraine 6-2. The bigger game was Latvia-France. There was no drama beyond the second period. The first period did see France’s Charles Bertrand score 21 seconds into the game, set up by Alexandre Texier. But the Latvians responded with goals from Eduards Tralmaks and Roberts Bukarts. A 2-1 lead and the first intermission talk for Latvia galvanized the team. They dominated the French 15-5 on the shot count and 3-0 on the goal count. Rodrigo Abols, Martins Dzierkals, and Kirstians Rubins all scored to lock up qualification for the Latvians. That they dominated without Arturs Silovs – injury right before the tourney, tough break for Vancouver fans – is just a cherry on top.
Group F – Denmark
This group was close to having some upsets. Such as in all three games by Japan. They were up on Norway halfway through their game. Then they took two stupid penalties that the Norwegians punished, setting up a 4-2 win for Norway. Japan took Denmark to overtime but lost there too. Japan ended their group by taking on Great Britain. Team GB put up a three goal lead, saw Japan make it a one-goal game late in the second period, and Jackson Whistle held on to end Japan’s qualification run of being close but not enough. Alas. Speaking of alas, while they won a game, getting crushed 6-2 by Norway on top of falling to Denmark on the first day ended the Olympic dreams for Great Britain. As expected, this group came down to Norway-Denmark on the final day.
In turned out that the last Olympic qualification between these two nations was held in Oslo, Norway back in 2021. Denmark beat them 2-0 then to go to Beijing in 2022. Would Norway have their revenge? It looked like it when Mats Zuccarello beat Frederik Andersen just 26 seconds into the game. Norway’s goalie Henrik Haukeland looked great for the first period. That 1-0 lead held for Norway – up until a Danish hero emerged late in the second period. Nicklas Jensen finished a play from Lars Eller to tie up the game. Just about two minutes later, Jensen sent Aalborg into cheers with a go-ahead goal. Andersen was solid in net and the Danes kept doing what they needed to maintain the lead. It was tense but they would get a big break with less than 3:30 to play: Patrick Russell converted a Nikolaj Ehlers pass for a huge 3-1 goal. Russell would sink in a late empty netter to secure a decisive-looking 4-1 win. The game was not as close as the score indicated. The victory by Denmark surely felt as sweet as it was for Norway to fall short yet again to the Danes. Especially as this qualification round may be the last for Patrick Thoresen and Zuccarello.
One More Thing…
The twelve nations for the Winter Olympic ice hockey tournament in Milan have been decided. Or have they? There is that Russia issue yet to be determined. We will get clarity on that in 2025. If the current situation holds between Russia’s quagmire in Ukraine, then I would expect the IIHF to deny Russia from playing in IIHF competitions in 2025-26. I would expect Finland, Sweden, Czechia, Slovakia, and Latvia – all nations going to Milan in 2026 – to threaten a boycott if Russia plays. If the situation gets better and tensions decrease by next Spring, then this is a different story. That said, who will go to Milan to replace Russia if the IIHF does deny Russia?
There are two options for the IIHF. The first is to take the next highest ranked nation that did not qualify. That would be Norway, who was seeded 12th for this round of Olympic qualification. It would be their return to the Olympics for the Norwegians since 2018’s tournament in Pyeongchang. Given that Norway finished one game short of qualifying outright, this would not be a big reach.
The second option is to take the best performing second place team out of each of the three groups. Kazakhstan, Norway, and France all went 2-0-0-1 in their respective qualifying groups. Out of those three, the highest goal differential was earned by France with a +6. They smashed Slovenia and Ukraine to build up a healthy lead even with their three-goal loss to Latvia. That would give them the edge over Norway’s +3 and Kazakhstan’s +2. Should they get selected for Milan, it will be their Olympic appearance since Salt Lake City in 2002. France will be hosting the Olympics in 2030 so their hockey team will get to perform their in the future. Getting in for 2026 can only help French hockey prepare for hosting. Per Gord Miller of TSN, this option may be the most likely one they take. It is how Hungary even qualified for this level after Belarus was denied entry into the competition.
Again, it is a bit anti-climatic that the most important international ice hockey games of the year just happened. For a tourney to be played over a year and a half from now. For the international scene, the next major event is the World Junior Championships in Ottawa starting on Boxing Day 2024. Thanks to the IIHF for livestreaming the qualification games as well as those who showed up in Bratislava, Riga, and Aalborg supporting the games. Hopefully all will be good for Simon Nemec as New Jersey Devils camp starts in a few weeks. Congratulations to Slovakia, Latvia, and Denmark for earning your way to Milan in 2026. Thank you for reading.