Yesterday, the IIHF published its Women’s World Rankings to seed teams for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

The top six countries — the first five of which will make up Group A at Beijing — are unchanged from last year. However, the new rankings will play a direct hand in which three teams join Japan and host nation China in Group B. COVID-19 resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 IIHF Women’s World Championships, which resulted in the IIHF having to call an audible on its procedure for ranking teams.

The 2020 rankings include points from the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship program in the men’s senior and women’s senior category. For tournaments that were not played due to the coronavirus pandemic, the points will be given according to the seeding position as foreseen in the IIHF Sport Regulations.

The new rankings will determine seeding for Olympic Qualification, with the Czech Republic, Germany, and Sweden having the right to host their Final Olympic Qualification group. The plan is for these games to take place between Feb. 11 and Feb. 14, 2021.

Top 10 Nations in IIHF World Ranking

USA Canada Finland Russia Switzerland Japan Czech Republic Germany Sweden France

The 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing will represent the first time that the women’s ice hockey tournament will have 10 participating teams. In the previous five Olympics, eight of the world’s best teams competed for the most coveted hardware in the world of women’s hockey.

The IIHF will have more details on qualifying games at a later date.

Groups for 2022 Olympics in Beijing