Team Japan for Vancouver 2010 Final Qualifying

Team Japan was announced on 15 January for the final round of qualifying for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Japan is in a very tough group against Austria, Slovenia, and hosts Germany. The games will take place 5-8 February in Hannover. The winner of the group will qualify for the Vancouver Olympics. Japan is essentially going into this round of qualifying with the exact same team that won the first round of qualifying in Poland last November. The team will hold camp in Italy from 27 Jan – 2 Feb before heading over to Hannover. You can see each player’s individual stats in the 2008-09 Asia League.

GK Haruna (35) Oji Eagles　　 　
GK Ishikawa (27) Nippon Paper Cranes　　 　
GK Kikuchi (33) Seibu Prince Rabbits　　 　
DF J. Tonosaki (25) Nippon Paper Cranes　　 　
DF Miyauchi (36) Seibu Prince Rabbits　　 　
DF Osawa (30) Nippon Paper Cranes　　 　
DF R. Kawai (24) Seibu Prince Rabbits　　 　
DF Minami (23) Oji Eagles　　 　
DF Yamashita (21) Oji Eagles　　 　
DF Keller (33) Oji Eagles　　 　
FW Domeki (25) Oji Eagles　　 　
FW Kon (30) Seibu Prince Rabbits　　 　
FW Kamino (29) Seibu Prince Rabbits　　 　
FW Ogawa (26) Oji Eagles　　 　
FW G. Tanaka (25) Seibu Prince Rabbits　　 　
FW Obara (27) Seibu Prince Rabbits　　 　
FW Iimura (27) Nippon Paper Cranes　　 　
FW T. Suzuki (33) Seibu Prince Rabbits　　 　
FW Ta. Saito (27) Oji Eagles　　 　
FW Mitani (35) Nippon Paper Cranes　　 　
FW Te. Saito (25) Oji Eagles　　 　
FW Nishiwaki (26) Nippon Paper Cranes　　 　
FW S. Sato (25) Seibu Prince Rabbits　　 　

IIHF World Rankings:

Germany (10), Slovenia (15), Austria (16), Japan (22)