# Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Men's qualification

Qualification for the men's tournament at the 2006 Winter Olympics was determined through the IIHF World Ranking following the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. The top eight teams in the World Ranking received automatic berths into the Olympics, Italy received a berth as the host, while all other teams had an opportunity to qualify for the remaining three spots in the Olympics through qualifying tournaments.

## Qualified teams

| Event | Date | Location | Vacancies | Qualified |
| 2004 IIHF World Ranking | 26 March 2001 – 9 May 2004 | Prague and Ostrava | 8 | Canada Sweden Slovakia Czech Republic Finland United States Russia Germany |
| Final qualification tournament | 10–13 February 2005 | Kloten | 1 | Switzerland |
| Final qualification tournament | 10–13 February 2005 | Riga | 1 | Latvia |
| Final qualification tournament | 10–13 February 2005 | Klagenfurt | 1 | Kazakhstan |
| Host | | | 1 | Italy |
| TOTAL | | | 12 | |

### Notes

* $^a$ 2004 IIHF World Ranking were comprising the following events: 2001 World Championship, 2002 Winter Olympic Games, 2002 World Championship, 2003 World Championship and 2004 World Championship
* $^b$ Prague and Ostrava were the sites for 2004 IIHF World Championship; at the conclusion of the tournament the ranking were finalized with regards to the qualification slots.

## Qualification seeding

* Qualified directly to Olympic Tournament
* Final qualification tournament
* Pre-qualification tournament
| Qualifying seed | Team | WC 2004 (100%) | WC 2003 (75%) | WC 2002 (50%) | OLY 2002 (50%) | WC 2001 (25%) | Total |
| 1 | Canada | 1200 | 1200 | 1040 | 1200 | 1060 | 3485 |
| 2 | Sweden | 1160 | 1160 | 1120 | 1060 | 1120 | 3400 |
| 3 | Slovakia | 1100 | 1120 | 1200 | 880 | 1020 | 3235 |
| 4 | Czech Republic | 1060 | 1100 | 1060 | 1020 | 1200 | 3225 |
| 5 | Finland | 1040 | 1060 | 1100 | 1040 | 1160 | 3195 |
| 6 | United States | 1120 | 880 | 1020 | 1160 | 1100 | 3145 |
| 7 | Russia | 940 | 1020 | 1160 | 1120 | 1040 | 3105 |
| 8 | Germany | 960 | 1040 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 2990 |
| 9 | Switzerland | 1000 | 1000 | 940 | 920 | 960 | 2920 |
| 10 | Latvia | 1020 | 960 | 920 | 960 | 880 | 2900 |
| 11 | Austria | 920 | 940 | 900 | 900 | 920 | 2755 |
| 12 | Ukraine | 860 | 900 | 960 | 940 | 940 | 2720 |
| 13 | Belarus | 780 | 860 | 800 | 1100 | 860 | 2590 |
| 14 | Denmark | 900 | 920 | 780 | 840 | 700 | 2575 |
| 15 | Japan | 840 | 820 | 820 | 740 | 820 | 2440 |
| 16 | Slovenia | 800 | 840 | 880 | 700 | 800 | 2420 |
| 17 | Kazakhstan | 880 | 800 | 720 | 780 | 720 | 2410 |
| 18 | France | 820 | 780 | 760 | 860 | 740 | 2400 |
| Host | Italy | 760 | 680 | 840 | 800 | 900 | 2315 |
| 19 | Poland | 720 | 760 | 860 | 760 | 780 | 2295 |
| 20 | Norway | 740 | 740 | 700 | 820 | 840 | 2265 |
| 21 | Hungary | 660 | 720 | 740 | 640 | 680 | 2060 |
| 22 | Netherlands | 700 | 660 | 660 | 660 | 640 | 2015 |
| 23 | Estonia | 680 | 700 | 560 | 720 | 600 | 1995 |
| | Great Britain | 640 | 640 | 680 | 680 | 760 | 1990 |
| 24 | Romania | 620 | 620 | 640 | 600 | 560 | 1845 |
| 25 | Lithuania | 560 | 580 | 540 | 620 | 580 | 1720 |
| 26 | China | 540 | 500 | 580 | 540 | 620 | 1630 |
| 27 | Serbia and Montenegro | 520 | 520 | 500 | 580 | 460 | 1565 |
| | South Korea | 600 | 560 | 600 | 0 | 540 | 1455 |
| 28 | Croatia | 500 | 600 | 620 | | 660 | 1425 |
| 29 | Bulgaria | 420 | 460 | 440 | 560 | 440 | 1375 |
| | Belgium | 580 | 540 | 520 | | 400 | 1345 |
| | Spain | 440 | 480 | 480 | | 520 | 1170 |
| | Australia | 480 | 420 | 420 | | 480 | 1125 |
| | Israel | 380 | 400 | 460 | | 500 | 1035 |
| | North Korea | 460 | 440 | 320 | | | 950 |
| | South Africa | 340 | 380 | 400 | | 420 | 930 |
| | Iceland | 320 | 360 | 380 | | 380 | 875 |
| | New Zealand | 400 | 320 | 280 | | 360 | 870 |
| | Mexico | 280 | 340 | 300 | | 340 | 770 |
| | Luxembourg | 360 | 300 | 340 | | | 755 |
| | Turkey | 300 | 280 | 360 | | | 690 |
| | Ireland | 260 | | | | | 260 |
| | Armenia | 240 | | | | | 240 |
* Great Britain and South Korea chose not to participate in Olympic qualifying.

## Olympic pre-qualification tournaments

Three round-robins were played from 11 to 14 November 2004. The teams seeded 18th, 19th, and 20th reserved the right to host these tournaments. The winners of each advanced to the final qualification tournaments.

### Group D

Games were played in Briançon, France.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | France (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 | +30 | 6 | Final qualification tournament |
| 2 | Romania | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 12 | −2 | 4 | |
| 3 | Estonia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 12 | +2 | 2 | |
| 4 | Bulgaria | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 32 | −30 | 0 | |

### Group E

Games were played in Nowy Targ, Poland.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Poland (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 1 | +17 | 6 | Final qualification tournament |
| 2 | Netherlands | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 4 | |
| 3 | Lithuania | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 13 | −5 | 2 | |
| 4 | Croatia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 23 | −16 | 0 | |

### Group F

Games were played in Stavanger, Norway.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Norway (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 5 | +35 | 5 | Final qualification tournament |
| 2 | Hungary | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 6 | +14 | 5 | |
| 3 | China | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 22 | −14 | 2 | |
| 4 | Serbia and Montenegro | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 37 | −35 | 0 | |

## Final Qualification Tournaments

Three round-robins were played from 10 to 13 February 2005. The teams seeded 9th, 10th and 11th reserved the right to host these tournaments. The three group winners qualified for the Olympic tournament.

### Group A

Games were played in Kloten, Switzerland.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Switzerland (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 6 | 2006 Winter Olympics |
| 2 | Norway | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 4 | |
| 3 | Denmark | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 2 | |
| 4 | Japan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 14 | −8 | 0 | |

### Group B

Games were played in Riga, Latvia.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Latvia (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 6 | 2006 Winter Olympics |
| 2 | Belarus | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 9 | +5 | 4 | |
| 3 | Slovenia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 12 | −5 | 2 | |
| 4 | Poland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 0 | |

### Group C

Games were played in Klagenfurt, Austria.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Kazakhstan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 4 | 2006 Winter Olympics |
| 2 | Austria (H) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 3 | |
| 3 | France | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Ukraine | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 2 | |