International Ice Hockey Federation

Swiss host in Arosa

Swiss host in Arosa

Women’s Olympic Qualification in the Alps

Published 30.01.2017 17:47 GMT+2 | Author Martin Merk
Swiss host in Arosa
Switzerland and the Czech Republic will be the top-seeded teams at the Women’s Final Olympic Qualification Group C. Photo: Matt Zambonin / HHOF-IIHF Images
Switzerland will host the Women’s Final Olympic Qualification Group C in the mountain resort town or Arosa from 9 to 12 February 2017.

The Swiss, who won the bronze medals at the 2014 Olympics but dropped down to sixth place in the 2016 IIHF Women’s World Ranking, aim at using home-ice advantage in the group with the Czech Republic, Denmark and a qualifier from the preliminary round in the town that is home to four of their women’s national team players, Livia Altmann and the Waidacher sisters Isabel, Monika and Nina.

“We decided to make use of the opportunity to host the Final Olympic Qualification tournament in Switzerland,” said Raeto Raffainer, Director of National Teams at the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation. “We want to capitalize on our home-ice advantage and by playing in front of our fans, and some of our players hailing form Arosa might get an additional thrust of motivation.”

During the past few years Arosa hosted the men’s four nations tournament Arosa Challenge that took place annually in December.

The group winners of the Final Olympic Qualification will join Team USA, Canada, Finland, Russia, Sweden and host Korea at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic women’s ice hockey tournament.

The other Final Olympic Qualification group will be hosted by Japan in a city to be determined and also includes Germany, Austria and a qualifier from the preliminary round.

 

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