Many NHL players to participate in Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia

Ice hockey games at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia will take place in “Bolshoy” Ice Dome and “Shayba” Arena. They are located within 300 meters of each other. NHL players have been participating in Winter Olympics since 1998 games in Nagano, Japan. NHL players will be available to the 12 participating nations at the Olympics. Participating countries include Russia, Slovakia, U.S., Slovenia (participating for the first time after failing to qualify for the past six games), Finland, Canada, Norway, Austria (coming back after 2002 participation), Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland and Latvia. Former Olympic participants, Belarus and Germany failed to qualify for the 2014 games. More than 120 NHL players are expected to participate and represent their countries. There will be no regular season NHL games from February 9 to 26, 2014 allowing players to participate in the Winter Olympics.

Games will be played according to the IIHF rulebook and the field will be international size, 60 X 30 meters. Twelve teams in three groups will participates in the men’s event to be held between February 12 to 23 and the women’s group consists of eight teams and will compete in two groups between February 8 to 20.