Events Included • Men's • Women's Venue White Ring, Nagano Aqua Wing, Nagano Big Hat, Nagano Past Winners Mens
Event Basics For purists, there is nothing quite like the Olympic brand of hockey. And this year, for the first time ever, the best players on the planet will skate in the Games. Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, Brian Leetch, Eric Lindros, Jari Kurri, Jaromir Jagr -- all of those, and more, will be skating for their countries in Nagano, making Dream Teams come true for at least six countries. The United States, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Russian and the Czech Republic all have legitimate shots at the gold medal. Nagano will be a dream for six women's teams, too, who will jostle for a hockey gold for the first time. Of course, they won't jostle too much. There is no body checking allowed in women's hockey. In fact, there won't be that much jostling on the men's side, either. The international rink is wider than the NHL's -- 100 feet, compared to 85 -- which will open the game up, make it harder to get a clean check on other players and put a premium on passing and good skating. You won't see the fighting you see in the NHL, either, for a couple of reasons. One, it's harder to get into scraps on the wide rink. Two, fighters are not just thrown into the penalty box -- they're thrown out for the rest of the match. The format is not new to anyone. The six men's Dream Teams already are in the final round. Eight other countries will compete in a preliminary round to gain the other two spots in the final round. From there, the teams will play a round-robin format, and the standings after that round (two points for a win, one for a tie) will determine the rankings for the eight-team quarterfinal round. Then there's the four-team semifinals. The winners of the semifinals will play for the gold, the losers for the bronze. The six women's teams -- Canada, the United States, Finland, Sweden, China and Japan -- will play a round-robin tournament with the top four teams getting into the medal round. A rule of note: If a tie occurs in a playoff-round game, the teams will play a 10-minute sudden-death overtime period. The sudden death stretches to 20 minutes if it's needed in the gold medal game. Who's the favorite: Gretzky and Canada? Jagr and the Czech Republic? The United States, with Hull? On the men's side, it's tough to say. But Canada, with goalie Manon Rheaume (who played in an NHL exhibition game in 1992), is the prohibitive front-runner among the women, with the United States giving chase. Canada has won the past four world championships over the United States, and is 20-0 in world championship play under coach Shannon Miller.
Who to watch Wayne Gretzky, Canada, Rangers' center fifth in NHL in assists Peter Forsberg, Sweden, Colorado center scored the goal which won Sweden the gold medal in 1994 Jaromir Jagr, Czech Republic, Penguins' wing is second in NHL in scoring this season Manon Rheaume, Canada, maybe best woman goalie around Guo Hon, China, goalie dubbed the "Great Wall of China" Cammi Granato, United States, forward is the all-time American scoring leader in the World Championships	Schedule Men's Feb. 7 Italy vs. Kazakhstan (2:00 a.m. ET) Austria vs. Slovakia (2:00 a.m. ET) Germany vs. Japan (6:00 a.m. ET) France vs. Belarus (6:00 a.m. ET) Feb. 8 Austria vs. Kazakhstan (12:00 a.m. ET) Slovakia vs. Italy (4:00 a.m. ET) Feb. 9 Germany vs. Belarus (12:00 a.m. ET) Japan vs. France (4 a.m. ET) Feb.10 Belarus vs. Japan (12:00 a.m. ET) Kazakhstan vs. Slovakia (12:00 a.m. ET) Italy vs. Austria (4:00 a.m. ET) France vs. Germany (4:00 a.m. ET) Finals Round Feb.13 USA vs. Sweden (12:45 a.m. ET) Finland vs. Czech Republic (12:45 a.m. ET) Canada vs. Qualifier A (4:45 a.m. ET) Qualifier B vs. Russia (4:45 a.m. ET) Feb.14 Qualifier A vs. USA (12:45 a.m. ET) Sweden vs. Canada (4:45 a.m. ET) Feb.15 Russia vs. Finland (11:45 p.m. ET Feb. 14) Czech Republic vs. Qualifier B (4:45 a.m. ET) Feb.16 Canada vs. USA (11:45 p.m. ET Feb. 15) Finland vs. Qualifier B (12:45 a.m. ET) Czech Republic vs. Russia (4:45 a.m. ET) Sweden vs. Qualifier A (4:45 a.m. ET) Quarterfinals Round Feb.18 TBD (12:45 a.m. ET) TBD (12:45 a.m. ET) TBD (4:45 a.m. ET) TBD (4:45 a.m. ET) Semifinals Feb.20 TBD (12:45 a.m. ET) TBD (4:45 a.m. ET) Bronze Medal Game Feb.21 TBD (1:15 a.m. ET) Gold Medal Game Feb.21 TBD (11:45 p.m. ET Feb. 20) Women's Feb. 8 Sweden vs. Finland (10:00 p.m. ET Feb 7) Canada vs. Japan (2:00 a.m. ET) China vs. USA (6:00 a.m. ET) Feb. 9 Finland vs. Japan (10:00 p.m. ET Feb 8) USA vs. Sweden (2:00 a.m. ET) Canada vs. China (6:00 a.m. ET) Feb.11 Sweden vs. Canada (10:00 p.m. ET Feb 10) Japan vs. China (2:00 a.m. ET) USA v. Finland (6:00 a.m. ET) Feb.12 China vs. Sweden (10:00 p.m. ET Feb 12) USA vs. Japan (2:00 a.m. ET) Finland vs. Canada (6:00 a.m. ET) Feb.14 Japan vs. Sweden (10:00 p.m. ET Feb 14) Finland vs. China (2:00 a.m. ET) Canada vs. USA (6:00 a.m. ET) Feb.17 Bronze medal game (2:00 a.m. ET) Gold medal game (4:00 a.m. ET)