12 countries are fighting for one spot in the final qualification round ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics Women’s Ice Hockey tournament. Those 12 teams have been split between Great Britain, Italy, and Poland are playing in the pre-qualifying round where the winners of each group move on to the final qualification round against Czech Republic, Germany, and Sweden. There is only one spot available for those six teams alongside Canada, USA, Finland, Switzerland, ROC, Japan, and the host China.
This is a big opportunity for lots of growing programs to sneak into the Olympics in a cycle where Sweden has frankly pooched it after falling out of the top-seven (all the way down to ninth) in the IIHF world rankings.