The 10 teams are divided into two, tiered, five-team groups in the Preliminary Round.

After a single round-robin series in each group, the five teams from Group A and the best three teams from Group B advance to the Playoff Round. 

The Quarter-Finals will be played between A1-B3, A2-B2, A3-B1, A4-A5.

In the semi-finals the best-ranked team - criteria: 1) Tier of the group. 2) placement in the group - will play against the lowest-ranked semi-finalist. The 2nd-best ranked semi-finalist will play the 3rd-best ranked semi-finalist.

The host country if qualified, or otherwise the best-ranked semi-finalist according to beforementioned criteria, shall play the early game. The time slots will officially be determined after the quarter-final games.

The winner of each Semi-Final game will move onto the Gold Medal Game, while the losers will play in the Bronze Medal Game.