With three places still available for the men’s ice hockey competition at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, 12 countries are taking part in the penultimate round of qualifying that started today in three European venues and concludes on Sunday (February 9).

Slovenia, hosts of Group G, earned the most emphatic victory of the day with a 12-2 scoreline against Lithuania at Podmežakla Hall in Jesenice.

In the earlier Group G match, Japan beat Round 2 qualifiers Croatia 9-0.

Kazakhstan, staging Group H matches, earned an 8-1 win over Ukraine at the Barys Arena in the capital of Nur-Sultan.

Poland won the opening Group H match against Round 2 qualifiers The Netherlands 8-0.

Meanwhile at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena, host nation Britain won the last match of the evening, edging home 4-3 against the third of the Round 2 qualifiers, Romania, in Group J.

Hungary had earlier beaten Estonia 4-1 at the same venue.

The top team in each round robin group will move on to the Final Qualification as the last of four teams in three more groups.

One qualifier will go through to Group D, where hosts Slovakia, Belarus and Austria await.

Latvia are hosts for Group E, which will also involve France and Italy and another Round 3 qualifier, while Group F is hosted by Norway, with Denmark and South Korea also standing ready.

Each of the top three teams from the Final Qualifier will go forward to the Beijing Olympics, where the hosts are already assured of a place and will be joined by the top eight teams in the world rankings following last year’s Men’s World Ice Hockey Championships.

They are, in order, Canada, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic, United States, Germany and Switzerland.