Olympic hockey schedule introduced; Crew USA begins Feb. 12
The Worldwide Ice Hockey Federation unveiled the schedule Tuesday for the lads’s and ladies’s tournaments on the 2026 Olympics in Milan and Cortina.
Girls’s hockey begins on Feb. 5 with the U.S. in opposition to Czechia and Canada versus Finland among the many opening video games. The U.S. and Canada renew their rivalry within the preliminary spherical on Feb. 10, and the gold-medal recreation is about for Feb. 19.
Males’s hockey, with the return of NHL gamers, opens the next day with Finland dealing with Slovakia and host Italy in opposition to Sweden. With out Russia within the 12-team area, the U.S. is grouped with Germany, Latvia and Denmark and can play every of them in a spherical robin.
The U.S. opens Feb. 12 in opposition to Latvia, the identical day Canada faces Czechia. The NHL’s greatest are collaborating for the primary time since 2014 in Sochi.
“It is nice that the NHL gamers are again within the Olympics,” U.S. normal supervisor Invoice Guerin stated. “Clearly it is the most important sports activities stage on the planet, and we’re all completely happy we’re again concerned.”
No groups are eradicated from group play on the lads’s facet. The highest 4 advance to the quarterfinals, with the remaining eight collaborating in a qualification spherical.
Video games will happen on NHL-sized rinks at Milano Santagiulia and Milano Rho arenas. The ultimate is scheduled for Feb. 22 because the final occasion of the Olympics earlier than the closing ceremony.
The schedule launch got here a day after the federations concerned introduced the primary six gamers named to their respective rosters. The U.S. picked all skaters: forwards Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel and defensemen Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy.
Finland is the defending Olympic champion from the Beijing bubble in 2022, when the NHL pulled out due to pandemic-related scheduling points, and the Russians received in 2018. Canada has received the previous two involving NHL gamers, and GM Doug Armstrong hopes for a 3rd.
“I am enthusiastic about our group,” Armstrong stated. “I do know our group needs to go there and desires to place their greatest foot ahead. There isn’t any ensures on this sport, however I do know we will go along with the appropriate perspective.”