Where does each team from the Olympic Qualification tournament go from here?
An evaluation of each team that played for an Olympic Berth this weekend, also known as: how good is your second pair defender?
Japan, Germany, Sweden, and maybe France are all headed to the Olympics, but the Olympic Qualifiers can tell us a lot more than who needs to buy a ticket to Italy. Team by team, here’s a recap of each country's tournament and what that could mean for their program as a whole.
Group G
Japan
They were still the heavy favorites going into the tournament, but I was a little worried about Japan - they were missing a star player, and that’s not something easy to overcome. Would the loss of Haruka Toko slow down their offense? Japan answered this question by saying: lol. Lmao, even. Japan went undefeated by utilizing their unique speed to crash the net and capitalize on rebounds, overall showcasing a master class of chemistry between players.
Leading up to the Olympic Qualifiers, the IIHF hosted the first ever Women’s Asia Championship featuring Japan, China, South Korea, and Kazakhstan. Japan, predictably, ran the table that tournament, but they also made a crucial decision to bring a much younger squad for evaluation. Only four players from the Asia Championship roster were born before 2000, and crucial veterans like Shiori Koike, Akane Hosoyamada, and Ayaka Hitosato sat out. In their absence, younger players had more opportunity for evaluation ahead of the Olympic Qualifiers and more ice time to assist in their transition to the senior program. The decision paid off this weekend, where we saw the expected success of some younger player like Makoto Ito (20 years old), and the breakout of others like Yumeka Wajima (22 years old.) Wajima had not scored at the senior level before the Asia Championship this year when she had one goal, but had five goals at the Olympic Qualifiers.
One of Yumeka Wajima’s goals
Japan lost a lot of their core players from their last Olympics - Fujimoto, Kubo, and Osawa are just a few of the numerous players who’ve retired since then, but Japan has been able to transition to the next wave of players seamlessly and ensure they continue their streak of Olympic appearances.
France
France had an up and down tournament that started with them giving up seven goals to Japan, including a number of goals off low danger chances. The skaters did the team no favors, getting in hopeless foot races with a much faster Japanese team and making sloppy passes. They took a punch in the mouth, but recovered with back to back statement victories.
In their final game against Poland, Clara Rozier decided she was going to win the game by herself if she needed to, scoring three goals in the first period alone. She’d finish the game with 7 points, enough to make her the leader in points for the entire tournament. The decisive victory earns France qualification if Russia is prohibited from the Olympics.
France has the top end talent, but needs to raise their floor through improved depth and goaltending to get Olympic ready. A starting lineup of Villiot, Leclerc, Aurard, Rozier, and Duvin can compete with most teams, but after that the drop off is significant for France.
China
There are no moral victories in hockey, except when there are. China has a lot to be happy about this tournament. The Olympic Qualifiers are their second major tournament following the professionalization of the Chinese Women’s Ice Hockey League, with four different teams in the league represented on the roster. In this new era of Chinese hockey, China earned their first win in the final round of Olympic Qualification (they were an automatic entry for 2022) with a shootout victory against Poland. Xin Fang pulled off the fake shot move to seal the deal.
China’s most dominant player, and the best goaltender of the tournament, was Jiahui (Grace) Zhan. She faced 126 shots (42 a game on average) and had a save percentage of 92.65%, all while having to travel from Dartmouth University to play in this tournament! Zhan made an impression on the international stage last World Championship, where she helped China upset Japan in a shootout with a 50 save performance. She gave Japan a flashback on Sunday with another, you guessed it, 50 save performance. China would end up losing 4-1, but considering the shots were 54-5 in favor of Japan, Zhan made it much closer than it should have been.
Zhan makes a big save against France
China’s currently in a transitional stage, having moved away from using passport players last season, but will continue to grow if they continue investment in their domestic program.
Poland
Poland came out of the gate with a strong performance against China, where a goal from Maja Brzezińska tied the game late in the third and pushed it to overtime, earning Poland it’s first ever point in the final round of Olympic Qualification. They even managed to outshoot China in this game. Unfortunately, Poland ran out of gas after this, losing 6-0 to Japan and 9-0 to France. Poland’s best players (Karolina Pozniewska, Wiktoria Sikorska) who carried them to the final round were kept at bay this tournament, but they did see a strong showing from some of their up-and-coming talent like Maja Brzezińska (19 years old) and Anna Kot (20 years old.)
The team’s berth to the final round was soured by financial difficulty getting to the tournament, which didn’t help the players in their preparation or training. Poland has a lot of on ice adjustments to make, but improvement will need to start off the ice.
Group H
Group H was notable for the incredible goaltending of all four teams. Sweden did not give up a single goal all tournament. Both Ena Nystrøm (Norway) and Emma-Sofie Nordström (Denmark) kept their teams in games that they had no real business being in: Nystrøm made 51 saves on 54 shots in Norway’s 3-0 loss to Sweden, Norström made 51 saves on 56 shots in Denmarks 5-0 loss to Sweden.
Sweden
Talking about Sweden in the international stage is impossible to talk about without examining how we got here. Removed from context, it’s easy to wonder how a team as strong as Sweden is even playing in the Olympic Qualifiers or why they’re ranked 8th. Sweden is troubled from years of mismanagement, unhealthy conditions, controversial roster decisions, and slashed funding that led to a strike shortly before the pandemic. The national team program is starting to make gains again, and while there is still room for growth, Swedish hockey has seen some improvements on and off the ice at both the national team and SDHL level (including having a union and collective bargaining agreement.) One problems that hasn’t changed is questionable roster decisions, such as leaving Elin Svensson and Lisa Johansson off the roster for the last World Championships (both did make the Olympic Qualification roster), or leaving Hanna Olsson and Emma Nordin at home for this tournament.
But let’s get back to the present. Sweden completely dominated their group, because they are much better than their eighth place ranking, even if they didn’t play their best roster. They got scoring up and down the lineup, but one of their best players was Jenna Raunio, an 18-year-old defender who’d never played a major tournament at the senior level before. Raunio is currently on HV71 in the SDHL, whose struggles as a team have caused her to be overlooked at times, and has committed to Ohio State University next year. She was tied for the highest scoring defender in the tournament with two goals and two assists, and translated the offensive upside she had shown at the U18 level to the senior level. All but two players recorded a point during the three games played, and Söderberg and Boman were flawless during their starts.
Raunio’s goal against Denmark
Sweden has the talent to contend for a medal at any tournament they attend - Olympics or World Championships. But they need to bring all of their best players, and more importantly, continue to try to repair their relationship with their players in terms of fair treatment, investment, and respect.
Denmark
Denmark played their best hockey since…well, since they last had Josefine Jakobsen on a roster. Young players like Amalie Andersen, Nikita Bergmann, and Lilli Friis Hansen stepped up to supply scoring and break the trend of Denmark over relying on Nicoline Söndergaard Jensen. They were close to taking France’s spot for the team that would be selected if Russia is disqualified, but did not win their games by a large enough margin to overtake France in goal differential. Would that spot have belonged to them if they were in a different group? Maybe, but the federation has some work to do before the 2030 Olympics. Luckily, they have a good foundation of players here to start with.
Norway
Norway’s tournament served as a preview of their first ever top division World Championship that they’re set to play in April. Their roster is top heavy, relying on Ena Nystrøm, Emma Bergesen, Andrea Dalen, Marthe Pabsdorff Brunvold, Millie Rose Sirum, and Mathea Fischer to carry them. And carry them they did. It’s never been a better time to invest in Emma Bergesen’s metaphorical stocks, who played a role in four of Norway’s five total goals this tournament, all while taking the brunt of defensive assignments. Norway’s always been stronger at the forward position than anywhere else, but Bergesen’s emergence as a legit top defender and Nystrøm’s as a top goaltender rounds out a competitive starting lineup ahead of their first top division tournament.
Eny Nystrøm makes a big save against Denmark
Netherlands
The Netherlands have me concerned. The program has major struggles at the U18 level, and still relies on Savine Wielenga (35 years old), Kayleigh Hamers (27), and Bieke van Nes (29) for the bulk of their production. Those players have quite a few years left, if they choose, to play at the international level, but there should be some sort of youth movement to support them. Their best young player is Eline Gabriele, a 22-year-old who finished with a 90.4% save percentage despite having to face 80 shots from Sweden at one point.
Group I
Germany
Germany’s last Olympic Qualifiers ended with a disappointing third place finish. Looking to make their way back to the biggest stage, the Germans built off a strong showing at the World Championship last year and won all three games to earn themselves their first Olympic Berth since 2014. Since Germany last appeared at the Olympics, they’ve seen an increase in German players in the NCAA (nine players in ten years, including six currently active) which has helped develop some of their top end talent. The domestic club league has also made changes, including adding one of Eastern Europe’s more successful clubs, HK Budapest, to the league.
Germany had more depth than any team in this tournament, ultimately leading to their victory. Goals from Celine Haider, Charlotte Schaffrath, and Jule Schiefer on their third line to complement their star players proved essential in such a close tournament. However, it was ultimately their young core Luisa Welcke, Lilli Welcke, and Nina Jobst-Smith who showed up on the scoresheet for their final game against Hungary and guaranteed their Olympic berth. Sandra Abstreiter played every minute of the tournament, only allowing 2 goals on the 61 shots she faced. Germany has the depth, the top end talent, and the goaltending, and now looks towards their next goal of being a top 6 team again.
Luisa Welcke scores the game winning goal, assisted by Lilli Welcke and Nina Jobst-Smith
Hungary
Hungary was a half a second away from forcing the final game against Germany into overtime, but ultimately couldn’t beat Abstreiter before the clock ran out. As a program, they’ve made a lot of gains in the past few years, moving from a depth team in Division IB to a team that goes between division IA and the top division. The overall improvements of the team won’t ease the sting of placing second for yet another Olympic Qualifiers, but the program is on the right track.
With that said: we need to talk about Réka Hiezl. The 15-year-old forward debuted at the international level last year at Division 1A U18 Worlds and has been one of Hungary’s best forwards ever since. The Qualifiers were her first major senior tournament, where she played two games with Gasparics and Kreisz on the top line before moving down to the third line in the final game. Hiezl wasn’t perfect, but rarely looked overmatched during the qualifiers, and was able to record a goal and an assist. If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of various WCHA teams trying to get her on a call.
Hungary also brought us our second fake shot goal of the tournament, courtesy of Lotti Odnoga, Hungary’s highest scoring player.
Odnoga with the fake shot
Austria
Austria performed as expected this tournament: good, but not quite good enough to challenge for a spot at the Olympics. They’ve spent the past decade around the middle of division 1A and are that is not likely to change in this Olympic cycle. They took Hungary to overtime and kept it close against Germany, but struggled to keep pace offensively with both those teams for a full sixty minutes.
A lack of depth hurts Austria, but they’ve established a core of Annika Fazokas, Theresa Schafzahl, Anna Meixner, Antonia Matzka, Anja Trummer, and Laura Leitner to build around - the latter three are defenders 25 or under, something a lot of other international programs of their size have trouble finding. Combined with the Luggin sisters in goal, who continue to prove themselves at the club and international level, Austria is a few more forwards away from taking the next step. Perhaps it’ll be the two U18 standouts who made the team for the Qualifiers, Vanessa Picka and Emma Litner, who take them there.
Austria’s best performance came from blueliner Annika Fazokas. She has always been good for Austria, but the Olympic Qualifiers showcased her best performance yet. The two years she’s spent at EV Zug in the Postfinance Women’s League have helped her bring her game to a new level, particularly in transitional play.
Slovakia
This tournament needs to be a catalyst for Slovakia making serious improvements and investments if they want to be a consistent D1A team and compete with other D1A teams for an Olympic berth. Defense was the biggest struggle for the Slovak’s this tournament, who saw nothing on either end of the ice from their blue line, but the team as a whole struggled to execute a game plan beyond relying heavily on their top forwards and goaltender, which led to the team getting burnt out after their close game against Hungary. The rest of the teams in this tournament have too much depth for Slovakia to lean as heavily on the top part of their roster as they tried to.
Veteran Janka Hlinkova (also goes by Janka Hlinka) was a bright spot for Slovakia, having two goals in three games after missing the first round of the Qualifications. Nela Lopušanová, carefully defended all tournament, was not able to record a point in the final round, but her fellow young star Ema Tóthová did and was Slovakia’s second-best player.
Final Notes
I was very impressed by all three hosts this tournament. Japan broadcasted their games on local television with commentary in addition to the IIHF stream, and had crowds of over 1,000 at several games. Germany did the best job in terms of the IIHF stream, having post game interviews, live commentary, and replays. If you haven’t listened to the German commentator’s call of the final goal for Germany against Hungary - go do that immediately. Sweden didn’t have live commentary, but did have multiple camera angles and replays. Both Germany and Sweden saw crowds of over 2,000 at points. The largest crowd was for Sweden vs. Denmark on Sunday, which had 2,832 people spectating.