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TURIN, Italy (CP) - Changes to eliminate lopsided scores are coming to women's Olympic hockey, according to the head of the International Ice Hockey Federation.
Rene Fasel said Friday the IIHF may tighten qualifying standards and perhaps even make the host country qualify in order to keep weak teams out of the Games. Defending Olympic champion Canada has come under criticism for running up scores at the 2006 Games, including a 16-0 thumping of host Italy.
"For sure, we will do something about participation of the host nation," Fasel said. "Italy is ranked No. 17 for the women.
"We will change the regulations so that they will have to be in the top 10 to participate and if not, they will have to qualify."
He said the IIHF may also eliminate goal differential as a tiebreaker in case two teams are tied at the end of the preliminary round to discourage running up scores.
Women's hockey is dominated by Canada and the United States, who together account for 115,000 of the world's 130,000 registered players, he said.
Fasel is confident the women's tournament will be better at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
"You just need to be patient," he said. "The women are working well.
"It will be different in Vancouver. We'll have stronger teams. You can't imagine how much the women enjoy coming here."
© The Canadian Press, 2006
