Belarus are set to stage the Group D event in Minsk ©Getty Images

The line-up for the Pyeongchang 2018 men’s ice hockey event is soon to be complete with Belarus, Latvia and Norway all braced to host a final qualification tournament from tomorrow until Sunday (September 4).

Belarus are set to stage the Group D event in Minsk, where they will be in competition with Slovenia, Denmark and Poland for a coveted place at the forthcoming edition of the Winter Olympic Games.

Single spots are also available at the Group E event in Latvia’s capital Riga and the Group F event in Norway’s capital Oslo.

Latvia will be up against Germany, Austria and Japan, while Norway meet France, Kazakhstan and Italy.

Each tournament will be played using a round-robin format with the respective winners earning their place at the 12-team Pyeongchang 2018 tournament.

South Korea have already qualified as the host nation and have been joined by the top eight nations in the men’s world rankings following last year’s International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships in the Czech cities of Prague and Ostrava.

Olympic champions Canada guaranteed their participation via this route, as did Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

Latvia will be hoping for success as they host Group E in Riga ©Getty Images
Latvia will be hoping for success as they host Group E in Riga ©Getty Images

Latvia's preparations were rocked earlier this week by the resignation of Leonids Beresnevs for personal reasons, but Haralds Vasiljevs has now been selected as his replacement.

Vasiljevs, 64, led Latvia at the 2000 and 2001 IIHF World Championships and also guided the country to qualification for the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics.

A former player of Dinamo Riga in the top Soviet League, Vasiljevs is currently the head coach of Lativan outfit Zemgale/LLU.

His son Herberts is a member of the Latvian national team, which has earned its spot in Olympic ice hockey history by winning a qualification tournament four consecutive times - the last three of which have come on home ice in Riga.

Last month, Hee-Beom Lee, the President of Pyeongchang 2018, said he is confident the next Winter Games will feature ice hockey players from the National Hockey League (NHL). 

René Fasel, President of the IIHF and a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1995, has been energetic in persuading the NHL to participate in the Winter Olympics, something they have done since Nagano 1998.