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)
