The men's tournament in ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics takes place in Milan, Italy between 11 and 22 February 2026. Twelve countries qualified for the tournament; eight via ranking by the IIHF, three via qualification tournaments, and Italy as hosts. Russia and Belarus are banned from competing due to their invasion of Ukraine. Finland are the defending champions, having won their first Olympic title in 2022. == Venues == == Qualified teams == Notes == Format == The twelve teams are split into three groups of four teams each, in which they play against each team once. The top team of each group and the best second-ranked team advance to the quarter-finals, while all other teams play a qualification round. A knockout system will be used after the group stage. == Rosters == === NHL participation === On 2 February 2024, the IIHF announced that an agreement had been reached with the National Hockey League (NHL) for a break in its regular season to allow the league's players to participate in the Olympics for the first time since 2014. The NHL was originally scheduled to compete in 2022 as well but opted out due to the COVID-19 pandemic. == Match officials == 12 referees and ten linesmen were selected for the tournament, consisting of both International Ice Hockey Federation and National Hockey League officials. == Preliminary round == All times are local (UTC+1). === Tiebreak criteria === In each group, teams are ranked according to the following criteria: Number of points (three points for a regulation-time win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, one point for an overtime or shootout defeat, no points for a regulation-time defeat); In case two teams were tied on points, the result of their head-to-head game determined the ranking; In case three or four teams were tied on points, the following criteria applied (if, after applying a criterion, only two teams remained tied, the result of their head-to-head game determined their ranking): Points obtained in head-to-head games between the teams concerned; Goal differential in head-to-head games between the teams concerned; Number of goals scored in head-to-head games between the teams concerned; If three teams remained tied, result of head-to-head games between each of the teams concerned and the remaining team in the group (points, goal difference, goals scored); Pre-tournament seeding. === Group A === === Group B === === Group C === === Ranking after preliminary round === Following the completion of the preliminary round, all teams were ranked 1D through 12D. The semi-finals will be reseeded according to this ranking. To determine this ranking, the following criteria are used in the order presented: higher position in the group higher number of points better goal difference higher number of goals scored for better IIHF World Ranking. == Play-off round == === Bracket === Teams will be reseeded based on the preliminary round ranking after the quarter-finals. === Qualification play-offs === === Quarter-finals === === Semi-finals === === Bronze medal game === === Gold medal game === == Final ranking == The places five to twelve were ranked by their preliminary round group placement and then points and goal difference. == Statistics == === Scoring leaders === The list shows the top ten skaters sorted by points, then goals. Source: IIHF.com === Leading goaltenders === The list shows the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes. Source: IIHF.com == References == == External links == IIHF website