The Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden go on to the Olympic hockey tournament for women
Sweden, Denmark and the Czech Republic will complete the group of 12 women’s hockey teams participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China after victories in qualifying tournaments over the weekend.
Sweden was the favorite in Group E, having played in all previous Olympic women’s tournaments so far. Sweden reached the final in 2006 and won bronze in 2002 and lost third place in 2010 and 2014. Sweden defeated France 3-2 on Sunday to secure a place in the Olympics.
The Danes, like the men’s team, will participate in their first Olympic tournament after securing a point in a 3-2 shootout loss against Germany in Group D games. Denmark had a perfect tournament in advance and beat Italy 4-0 and Austria 1-0. Denmark has spent very little time in the world championships for women, and earned promotion in 2019 for the first time before finishing last in 2021. The Danes will host the 2022 tournament next spring.
The Czech Republic, ranked seventh in the world, will also play in the Olympics for the first time after winning the Group C competition. The team has historically fought in the Olympic qualifiers and finished second in the events before 2014 and before 2018. With the Czechs on a cruise to a 5-1 win against Hungary, which was also undefeated before Sunday, the Czechs got the historic promotion
The groups in Beijing will be as follows:
Group A: USA, Canada, Finland, Russia, Switzerland
Group B: Japan, Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark, China