2012 Winter Youth Olympics – Boys' tournament

The boys' ice hockey tournament at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics was held from January 13 to 22 at the Tyrolean Ice Arena in Innsbruck, Austria.

Teams from five national hockey associations competed, in one single preliminary round group. The tournament consisted of 14 games: 10 in the preliminary round (teams played all other teams); 2 semifinal games; 1 bronze medal game; and 1 gold medal game.

All games wwere played in three 15-minute periods, as opposed to the traditional 20-minute periods.

Qualification
The top eight teams in the 2011 IIHF World Ranking will choose which tournament (either boys' or girls') they want to compete in. First priority is given to higher ranked nations.

Preliminary Round
Points to each team are awarded as follows:
 * 3 points for a win at the conclusion of regulation time
 * 2 points for an overtime or shootout win
 * 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss
 * 0 points for a loss at the conclusion of regulation

If two or more teams are tied in points, the following tiebreaker criteria will be used:
 * points earned in games involving only tied teams
 * goal difference in games involving only tied teams
 * goals scored in games involving only tied teams
 * goal difference in all group games
 * goals scored in all group games

If a criterion leaves only two teams tied, then those teams will be ranked based on their head-to-head result.