MOSCOW, February 10 (R-Sport) – Slovenia beat Ukraine 5-1 on Sunday to seal its first-ever place at the Winter Olympics men's hockey competition.
The Slovenians also took care of Denmark, 2-1, and Belarus, 4-2 to qualify for Sochi 2014, where they enter Group A with host Russia, local rival Slovakia and the United States.
Austria will also go to Sochi despite a 3-2 overtime defeat to Germany. Victories over Italy and the Netherlands were enough to send the Austrians to the Games after missing out on the last two tournaments.
In the other qualification game Sunday, Latvia was locked at 2-2 with France, but the game spilled into overtime, meaning the Latvians secure a place in Sochi whatever the final result.
In Sochi, Group B will consist of Austria, reigning champion Canada, Finland and Norway. Group C contains Latvia, Sweden the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
Meanwhile, Britain's men's ice hockey team suffered a 6-0 thrashing by Kazakhstan on Sunday to dash all hopes of qualifying for Sochi.
The British finish bottom of Group E after three defeats, the two others coming against Latvia, 6-2, and France, 4-2.
Britain won the Olympic gold in 1936 and took bronze in 1924 but hasn’t take part in Olympic competition since 1948, when it finished fifth in St. Moritz.
The British women’s team fell short of qualification in November.











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