Fourteen nations would qualify for the Olympic tournament, eight to the preliminary round, and six to the first round. The IIHF used the standings of the 1995 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships to determine qualification. First, the top six nations from Pool A would go directly to the first round. The preliminary round was made up of the nations ranked seventh and eighth, along with the host Japan, and five others from a series of qualification tournaments. The nations ranked nine through twelve went straight to the final qualification round.qualification process

Regional Pre-Qualification Group A Five nations played each other twice, both home and away, from October 25, 1995, until December 12, 1996. RankTeamGPWLTGFGAPTS 18602421414 2–28–15–37–1285033115133–3 1–15–04–138341232872–62–3 4–24–04 8350322461–44–55–1 9–05808085501–72–83–80–8

Group B This tournament was played in Tychy, Poland, from December 17 to 22, 1996. RankTeamGPWLTGFGAPTS 143015137 3–310–017–021–02430136873–3 6–314–013–234220192240–103–6 7–29–44 413074020–170–142–7 5–25404084800–212–134–92–5 Note: In January 1996 Greece beat Israel 10–2, but forfeited the result because of an ineligible player. Following that, in March of the same year Israel played Yugoslavia, in Lithuania, losing 5–3. Israel's loss is officially a 5–0 loss, the match was declared forfeit because they used ineligible players from Russia.

Group C This tournament was played in Riga, Latvia, from August 27 to September 1, 1996. RankTeamGPWLTGFGAPTS 144005448 4–113–116–121–12431053661–4 10–215–027–034220193141–132–10 7–49–44 4130144121–160–154–7 9–35404086601–210–274–93–9 Note: In January 1996 Hungary played a challenge series against Croatia winning 7–0 and 6–0.

Group D The Asian Winter Games were used as a qualifying tournament, and were played in Harbin, China, from February 5 to 8, 1996. Japan participated though already qualified for the Olympics. TeamGPWLTGFGAPTS 33003326 4–120–09–1321014641–4 7–16–1312072920–201–7 6–2303042101–91–62–6

Final Olympic Qualification The top two from each group qualify, the two third placed nations play for the final spot. Group 1 Played in Oberhausen, Germany, from February 6 to 9, 1997. TeamGPWLTGFGAPTS 32011175 3–24–14–431119732–3 3–34–131116831–43–3 2–1302161014–41–41–2

Group 2 Played in Innsbruck, Austria, from February 6 to 9, 1997. TeamGPWLTGFGAPTS 31021284 4–46–22–2310211844–4 4–13–3312071122–61–4 4–130126922–23–31–4

Play-off

secures the final spot in the preliminary round.

References

Sources Olympic Qualifiers 1995–98 Hokej SFRP – Olympic Games 1998 Qualifikation avlh.sweb.cz – Kvalifikace Zimních olympijských her 1998 Hockeyarchives – Qualifications pour les Jeux Olympiques 1998