UK gets $100,000 IOC grant for Olympic ice hockey

LONDON (AP) - Britain has received a $100,000 grant from the IOC to help its men's ice hockey team qualify for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

The British Olympic Association says the funds from the IOC's Solidarity Program will go to Ice Hockey UK and help pay for training camps and travel.

Britain has advanced to the final Olympic qualifying tournament from Feb. 7-10 in Riga, Latvia.

Britain, ranked 21st, will be grouped with Latvia, France and Kazakhstan. The winner of the tournament will qualify for the Olympics.

Britain won the gold medal at the 1936 Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. But it hasn't appeared in an Olympic hockey tournament since the 1948 Games in St. Moritz.

Twelve teams will play in the Sochi Olympics, with the top nine getting an automatic spot.