Recap of last night's 6-1 victory over Finland in the Four Nations Faceoff.

Big game Saturday night vs. Canada.

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/4-nations-face-off-united-states-6-finland-1~3080589

USA women beat Canada in overtime this past week to win gold at the Women's World Championships. Yay.

U18 Men's World Championships start today in Frisco and Allen (Texas).

Team USA plays Czechia tonight at 7pm on NHL Network (DirecTV channel 215).

https://teamusa.usahockey.com/news_article/show/1337288

I won't be there unfortunately as DFW is way to far for me to travel on a workday. Small off chance, however, I'll make it up for Saturday's game vs. Sweden.

Down 2-1 late in the third, Team USA scores 2 (plus an empty netter) in the last five minutes to win 4-2 over the Czechs.

Really dominated in the final period, which was good to see, and Frisco native (son of NHLer) Blake Fiddler gets the all-important equalizer in the third.

Tomorrow we get the Swiss, which should be a little easier.

Here's what I've been able to ascertain regarding TV availability for the U18 games underway in Frisco/Allen:

Team USA games will be broadcast live on the NHL Network (DirecTV channel 215).

Team Canada games will be broadcast live (and presumably on demand) on the ESPN+ app. It appears that at least some of the knockout stage games will be on ESPN+ as well.

The remaining teams' games should be available on IIHF TV streaming through the IIHF website (and their app), but the tournament is apparently geo-blocked in the USA. I presume a VPN could get around that.

Update: 1/20/2026

Bumping this thread in preparation for the Olympics next month.

Over the next week I'll adding new posts including links to both the Team USA men's and women's rosters, schedules for both teams and how/where to watch the games, my pre-Olympics thoughts on the tournament as a whole, and the prospects for both teams to come back home with gold medals.

Prior to that, however, I'd like to congratulate the Team USA U18 women's team for winning gold at the recently concluded 2026 IIFH U18 Women's World Championships held in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (Canada).

As is always the case in the womens game, the gold medal game came down USA versus Canada. Having lost to Canada last year, this time the Americans returned the favor, defeating the young lady Canucks 2-0 on their own ice on Sunday night!

Here is a short TSN recap of the Americans' victory courtesy of TSN's Cheryl Pounder and Laura Diakun.

https://www.tsn.ca/hockey-canada/video/2026/01/19/united-states-becomes-the-first-team-in-u18-womens-world-history-to-win-perfect-gold/

The US victory was notable for three reasons:

1) It was the first ever "perfect gold" in tournament history, which means Team USA neither trailed in any game nor surrendered the lead in any game after scoring the first goal.

2) Jane Daley scored a tournament record 12 goals.

3) Team USA goalie Bianca Birrittieri, from Flower Mound, Texas, pitched a 38-save shutout in the gold medal game versus Canada.

Here is a short collection of highlights, again courtesy of TSN, from the game.

https://www.tsn.ca/hockey-canada/article/usa-defeats-canada-to-capture-gold-at-u18-womens-world-championship/

Next up, the big boys and big girls in Milan/Cortina!

Team USA has replaced the injured Seth Jones with the Ducks' Jackson LaCombe on the blue line. I agree with this move.

Jackson LaCombe has been named to the 2026 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team, replacing Seth Jones.#MilanoCortina2026

Details: https://t.co/Rb28VuWgks pic.twitter.com/lkX5Cqscpi

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) January 21, 2026

Here's your basic need-to-know info in preparation for the Women's Olympic hockey tournament, which begins next week (prior to the beginning of the Men's tournament).



In addition to watching the games live (or delayed on DVR for the weekday morning games in my case) on the USA Network, you can also stream Olympic hockey on the USA Network through the Peacock app or website, the NBC Sports App, as well as at NBCOlympics.com with your cable/satellite provider info.

Here is the roster for this year's team.



The official roster, which includes more detailed biographical links to each player, can be found on the USA Hockey website at the following URL.

https://teamusa.usahockey.com/2026olympicwomenroster

Of particular interest to the casual fan is that one player, forward Hannah Bilka, who plays professionally for the PWHL's Seattle Torrent, is from Coppell, Texas!

https://teamusa.usahockey.com/2026olympics-hannahbilka

Next Up: My thoughts/preview of Team USA and the women's tournament in general.

Update: 2/2/2026

With the women's tournament starting this week (Team USA plays Thursday morning), I'm dividing my preview of Team USA into three parts: goalies, defense, and forwards.

Goaltending:

There are, in my opinion, three elite goalies in the women's game right now, and Team USA is fortunate to have two of them; Aerin Frankel (Boston Fleet) and Gwyneth Phillips (Ottawa Charge). The other is Canada's Ann-Rene Desbiens (Montreal Victoire).

The third goalie on Team USA is Ava McNaughton, who currently plays for NCAA powerhouse Wisconsin. I would not expect to see Ava play much if at all in the Olympics.

The big question, therefore, is who is the number one goalie; Frankel or Phillips?

As far as who's better it's difficult to say. Whether we're going by skills, size, experience, career accomplishments, or raw statistics, it's hard to find much for one over the other.

From a size standpoint give the slight advantage to Phillips (5'7") over Frankel (5'5"), which still leaves both of them on the smallish side for female goalies. Both, however, are very quick in terms of lateral movement, have excellent positioning, and very good anticipation, which more than makes up for their stature. If I had to give a slight edge to one over the other I'd give a tiny quickness edge to Frankel... and a very, very slight positioning edge to Phillips due to her extra couple of inches.

In terms of high level experience I'd say slight edge Frankel, but again their resumes are pretty similar.

Frankel has started for 2.5 seasons for the Boston Fleet (PWHL) and Phillips about one full season for the Ottawa Charge (PWHL). While both have very good PWHL regular season resumes, it's been in the playoffs where both have really shined.

In the inaugural PWHL season (2024) Frankel single-handedly dragged the Boston Fleet to a deciding game five of the Walter Cup Finals, before succumbing to the Minnesota Frost. In my opinion, she should have won the Ilana Kloss Playoff Most Valuable Player Trophy (the PWHL equivalent of the Conn Smythe Trophy) for her efforts.

Then in last year's PWHL playoffs, Phillips single-handedly dragged the Ottawa Charge to the Walter Cup Finals, where her team fell in four games to the same Minnesota Frost. For her efforts she did win the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP Trophy, which immediately reminded me (New Jersey Devils fan) of Jean-Sbastien Gigure winning the 2003 Conn Smythe Trophy, also in defeat.

In terms of high level international experience you can't go wrong with either. Frankel has assumed the role of primary Team USA goalie over the last few years, leading the Americans to the gold medal game in both the 2024 and 2025 IIHF Women's World Championships. Unfortunately, however, she was injured in the gold medal game versus Canada in last years' tournament. Fortunately, Phillips came in for relief, and stopped 17 of 18 shots over the final 32 minutes of regulation and overtime, securing the gold medal for Team USA.

In terms of their current form, with the PWHL season at approximately the midseason, I'd give the statistical edge, as well as the eye-test edge, to Frankel. Frankel is posting a 1.35 GAA (goals against average) and a .946 save percentage, while Phillips is posting a 2.28 GAA and a .929 save percentage.

My Expectations:

My expectation is that Coach John Wroblewski will slot in Frankel as 1A and Phillips as 1B, giving them both at least one (or more) starts in the preliminary round of the Olympic tournament. Assuming no bad performances (or, knock on wood, injuries), here are two possible rotations that wouldn't surprise me.

Option #1:
Feb. 5 versus Czechia: Frankel
Feb, 7 versus Finland: Frankel
Feb. 9 versus Switzerland: Phillips
Feb. 10 versus Canada: Frankel

Option #1 is based on Frankel as the already-penciled-in starter. The Phillips start against Switzerland prevents either goalie from having to play any back-to-backs, and positions Coach Wroblewski to start Phillips again in the quarterfinal matchup (likely against a very overmatched opponent), leaving Frankel as rested as possible heading into the semifinal/final matchups.

Option #2:
Feb. 5 versus Czechia: Frankel
Feb, 7 versus Finland: Phillips
Feb. 9 versus Switzerland: Frankel
Feb. 10 versus Canada: Phillips

Option #2 is based on Frankel as 1A and Phillips as 1B, splitting duty in the preliminary round. Both goalies avoid getting overworked prior to the knockout phase of the tournament, and starting Phillips against Canada in the last preliminary round game means Canada's snipers wouldn't be getting their second look at Frankel (in a week) if the teams meet up again (which I fully expect they will) in the gold medal game. In reality I don't think that last part matters much, as both Team USA's and Team Canada's players are all very familiar with each other already anyway.

Next Up: The Defenders

And now the Defense:

There are seven defenders on the Team USA (women) roster for the Olympics. Although I believe IIHF rules allow for more players to be dressed than is the case in the NHL, for the purposes of this post I'm going to assume the seventh defender will either be scratched or only make it out on the ice for the occasional shift.

Here are the seven defenders, divided into lefties and righties. For those not intimately familiar with hockey, most players, especially defenders, play on the side of the ice that matches their handedness (lefties on the left side, righties on the right)

Left-handed:
2 - Lee Stecklein (Minnesota Frost)
4 - Caroline Harvey (Wisconsin - NCAA)
5 - Megan Keller (Boston Fleet)
6 - Rory Guilday (Ottawa Charge)

Right-handed:
3 - Cayla Barnes (Seattle Torrent)
8 - Haley Winn (Boston Fleet)
10 - Laila Edwards (Wisconsin - NCAA)

Overall, Team USA's defense corps is a balanced mix of both seasoned veteran players and younger, faster players, and while some may be thought of as more offensively-minded, and others as more defensively-minded, I would characterize them all as more than capable high-end two-way players.

While Caroline Harvey, for example, is usually thought of as an "offensive" defenseman (defensewoman?), I would be entirely comfortable with her on the ice defending a one goal lead at the end of the game. That being said, here are a few of my thoughts on some of the players.

Lee Stecklein: Although more than capable of contributing offensively, Stecklein is an elite, self-described "stay-at-home" defenseman on the blue line. Expect to see her on the ice for both the penalty kill and any high leverage defensive situation.

Megan Keller: The Boston Fleet team captain is one of the elite of the elite two-way players in the world, possessing all the qualities, physical and mental, that you would want in a defender. She'll play a ton of minutes in all situations, score some goals (especially on the power play), rack up a number of assists, and every once in a while make an end-to-end rush up the ice reminiscent of Bobby Orr or Paul Coffey. She also happens to have one of the most accurate and hardest shots in all of women's hockey. I consider her Team USA's best overall defender, which means there's a very strong argument for her being the best female defenseman in the world right now.

Haley Winn: Winn, a regular on Team USA for the last few seasons while she finished up her collegiate career at Clarkson College, has played very well as a rookie for the Boston Fleet this season; typically paired up on a line with Megan Keller. I think it's very likely that Coach Wroblewski will elect to keep her paired up with Keller in the Olympics, especially when the teams are at even strength.

Laila Edwards: Edwards is an interesting player for a number of reasons, not the least of which that until a couple of years ago she was a forward for Team USA, which she still sometimes plays for her Wisconsin Badgers (NCAA). While she is still a work-in-progress in terms of mastering the finer aspects of playing on the blue line, over the last year the move has really seemed to pay dividends. If I were to describe her style of play, it reminds me of what you'd expect if you took a big, strong, fast power forward and transitioned her to defense, which kind of makes sense because that's what happened.

What makes her a really exciting player, however, is her combination of a forward's knack for knowing when to jump into the rush, find open space in the offensive zone, and the ability to finish it off with an absolute howitzer of a shot. I'm probably giving her a little too much credit here, but in my opinion she has the best combination of wrist shot and slapshot in women's hockey. Whoever drafts Edwards in this year's PWHL draft has the makings, assuming her continued development as a defender, of a franchise player on their hands.

Expected Defensive Pairings:

Here's how I think Coach Wroblewski will deploy his defenders at even strength, and I expect him to run his lines fairly evenly without worrying too much about matchups, except against Team Canada perhaps.

Note that these lines are based mainly on what I've seen over last year during the Rivalry Series games versus Team Canada and the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championships.

Keller - Winn
Harvey - Barnes
Stecklein - Edwards

Rory Guilday as the most likely scratch, or occasionally worked-in seventh defender.

On the power play here's my best guess.

Keller - Edwards
Harvey - Barnes

It also wouldn't surprise me if he sometimes sneaks a forward on to the point for the power play, especially on the second unit.

As far as the penalty kill goes I think it's more wide open, with a lot of minutes logged by Lee Stecklein and Megan Keller. I would expect to see just about everyone on penalty kill duty at some point.

Tomorrow: Team USA forwards!

.... and the Team USA (women's) forwards:

Given the number of players involved, including those capable of playing both center or wing, and the plethora of potential line combinations, I'm approaching my preview of Team USA's forwards a bit differently than I did the defense.

Rather than predict specific line combinations, I'll share some of my thoughts on specific players that may be of interest to the casual fan, and some general thoughts on how I think Coach Wroblewski will deploy his forwards.

Team USA forwards:

9 - Kirsten Simms (Wisconsin - NCAA)
12 - Kelly Panneck (Minnesota Frost)
13 - Grace Zumwinkle (Minnesota Frost)
16 - Hayley Scamurra (Montreal Victoire)
17 - Britta Curl-Salemme (Minnesota Frost)
21 - Hilary Knight (C) (Seattle Torrent)
22 - Tessa Janecke (Penn State - NCAA)
23 - Hannah Bilka (Seattle Torrent)
24 - Joy Dunne (Ohio State - NCAA)
25 - Alex Carpenter (Seattle Torrent)
26 - Kendall Coyne-Schofield (Minnesota Frost)
27 - Taylor Heise (Minnesota Frost)
37 - Abbey Murphy (Minnesota - NCAA)

Like the defense corps, Team USA's forwards are a healthy mixture of accomplished veterans, like team captain Hilary Knight and Kendall Coyne-Schofield, and speedy, highly skilled younger players, some of whom are currently starring in the collegiate ranks.

13 - Grace Zumwinkle: Grace is a very solid all around player, and winner of the PWHL Rookie of the Year from the inaugural 2024 season. Often referred to as a "power forward," she's got good size and speed, and a really good shot, including one of the better slapshots in the PWHL when on the move. While she's more likely to see bottom six forward rather than top six ice time, I would expect her to get some powerplay duty, camped out on the left side in the "Ovechkin spot," ready to fire one-timers at the net.

17 - Britta Curl-Salemme: Britta is one of my absolute favorite players, who I think is sneaky good (underrated). She's got decent speed, excellent strength and balance, and is near impossible to knock off the puck. She's plays with a lot of physicality, and a little bit of a nasty streak that kind of reminds me of Dino Ciccarelli, which was a bit of a problem during her PWHL rookie season (2024-2025), as evidenced by the penalty minutes she racked up, along with a couple short suspensions for illegal hits. On that front, however, she seems to have learned from last season, playing with more discipline this season in terms of avoiding the penalty box. That being said, she's just a sneaky good all around player, and I think very underrated as a playmaker. Having watched pretty much all of the Minnesota Frost's games this season, I could argue that she's the best creator of offense on the team in terms of seeing the ice and making the passes necessary to create scoring chances for her teammates. She's looked especially good when paired on a line with Taylor Heise (see my thoughts on her below), which leads me to believe we might see the two Minnesota Frost lined up together in the Olympics as well. At the Olympic break she is currently tied for the most points in the PWHL (7 goals, 9 assists - 16 points) with Team USA and Minnesota Frost teammates Taylor Heise and Kendall Coyne-Schofield.

21 - Hilary Knight: Hilary is the most accomplished (greatest) player in the history of USA women's hockey, and will be a first ballot hockey hall-of-famer when she finally hangs up her skates. In addition to being the all-time Team USA leader in goals, assists, and points, she also holds the all-time IIHF Women's World Championships record for goals, assists, and points (67 goals, 53 assists - 120 points total - in 87 games played). Big, fast, and strong, she is the quintessential power forward. Although at 36 years of age she may have lost a touch of speed, she is still completely capable of taking over a game with either her physicality or her scoring touch. I except she will log lots of minutes as a top two lines (top six) forward, as she will see both powerplay and penalty kill duty. On the powerplay, as well as a even strength, look for her to be parked on the edge of the crease screening the other team's goalie, deflecting shots into the net, and otherwise causing havoc. And by the way, she's got one of the hardest shots in women's hockey as well.

23 - Hannah Bilka: Gotta mention Hannah Bilka, not just because she is a fabulous, young player, who will likely emerge over the next few years as one of the main faces of USA women's hockey as players like Hilary Knight and Kendall Coyne-Schofield retire, but also because she is the only current member of Team USA born and raised in Texas (Coppell).

25 - Alex Carpenter: One of the veteran stars on Team USA, I've got a soft spot in my heart for Alex as she is the daughter of former New Jersey Devil (and 1995 Stanley Cup Champion) Bobby Carpenter. Like Knight, she is one of the most accomplished players in the international women's game, sitting 19th all-time with 24 goals and 34 assists in IIHF Women's World Championship games. I'd have her penciled in as a top six forward as well, especially since she can play center and is one of the best faceoff specialists in women's hockey.

26 - Kendall Coyne-Schofield: Second only to Hilary Knight as the face of Team USA women's hockey, Coyne-Schofield was the long running captain of Team USA, until she took a couple years off to have a baby (Yay for babies!). What she is perhaps best know for, to the casual fan anyway, is subbing in for the injured Nathan MacKinnon in the Fastest Skater competition at the 2019 NHL All-Star Skills Competition, where she recorded a time of 14.326 seconds, placing her seventh out of eight skaters. Although it appeared that her elite speed maybe took an initial step back after returning (from having a baby) to professional and international play in 2024, over the last two seasons in the PWHL it looks to me like she's as fast as ever (maybe the fastest breakaway speed in all of women's hockey?), even at 33 years old. I would expect for Kendall, especially against the lesser teams in the Olympic tournament, to get several good scoring chances on clear breakaways. While she doesn't have a very hard shot, she got soft hands and a very good scoring touch near the goal. And by the way, she is also one of the leading scorers in the history of women's hockey with 80 career points in 65 games played at the IIHF Women's World Championships.



27 - Taylor Heise: One of the newer (younger) stars on Team USA, Taylor was the first pick in the inaugural PWHL draft, and winner of the Ilana Kloss Most Valuable Player Award in 2024, leading the playoffs with eight points in ten games as her Minnesota Frost won the inaugural PWHL championship. I would describe her as both and elite playmaker AND scorer, who will definitely see top line duty at both even strength and on the powerplay. Along with Hilary Knight, Alex Carpenter, and Kendall Coyne-Schofield, she is one of only seven players over the first two seasons of the PWHL (30 game regular seasons) to have amassed 50 or more points (goals and assists combined). Of all the younger players on Team USA, she is probably the one most likely to emerge as the principle face of USA women's hockey as the older veterans retire.

37 - Abbey Murphy: Abbey is the young player I am the most excited to see play in her first Olympics. Currently on leave from the University of Minnesota (NCAA) to play in the Olympics, she is the best player in college hockey and is just tearing it up this season leading the NCAA with 36 goals and 25 assists in only 26 games played. And if she's not already one of the top ten or so most technically skilled (women) players on the planet, she soon will be. In my opinion she may have been the best player on Team USA in last year's Rivalry Series exhibition games versus Canada, and in last year's IIHF Women's World Championships, and I would be absolutely shocked if she is not the first overall pick in the next PWHL draft. In the Olympics I would expect to see her lined up with some of the other veteran stars on top two line duty, as well as for her to feature heavily on the power play.

And lastly regarding Abbey Murphy, if you haven't seen it yet check out this absolutely sick move/assist from last month that went viral on the internet/social media.



Next Up: My overall thoughts/predictions for the women's tournament.

Late night update 2/4/26:


Women's Olympic Tournament Preview

The Women's Olympic tournament is divided into 2 groups of five teams based upon IIHF rankings. Each team plays one game against each of the other teams in its group during the preliminary round. In the preliminary round 3 points in the group standings are awarded for a regulation win, 2 points for an overtime or shootout win, 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss, and 0 points for a regulation defeat.

Group A:
USA
Canada
Finland
Czechia
Switzerland

Group B:
Sweden
Germany
Japan
France
Italy

After the group phase ends, the teams are seeded according to the following formula to determine the quarterfinal matchups. This is a different formula than used in the men's tournament, and yes you are reading that properly, all of the teams in Group A automatically qualify for the quarterfinals.

Group A #1 vs Group B #3
Group A #2 vs Group B #2
Group A #3 vs Group B #1
Group A #4 vs Group A #5

After the quarterfinals the teams are reseeded for the semifinals based upon the combined group standings (Group B #1 slotting in right behind Group A #5). The winners of the semifinal games advance to the Gold Medal game, while the losers of the semifinal games move on to the Bronze Medal game. The loser of the Gold Medal game wins the Silver Medal.

If you are curious as to why the tournament is set up this way, I believe it is a legacy formula designed to all but guarantee two USA vs. Canada matchups - one in the preliminary round and the second in the Gold Medal game - rather than the two teams beating up their inferior competition in the preliminary round and only meeting once in (likely) the Gold Medal game.
-----

Before sharing my thoughts on some of the other teams, and making my tournament predictions, a couple things about the state of women's international hockey in general.

As has been the case since the introduction of women's ice hockey to the Olympics in the 1990s, there is less parity in the international women's game amongst the top half dozen or so teams than in the men's game. The USA and Canada totally dominate the sport, to the point where literally no team other than the USA or Canada has won an Olympic tournament or IIHF Women's World Championship (which is held every year)... ever.

Here is how I would describe the three-tiered hierarchy of women's international hockey:

Tier One: Teams that have a greater than 1% chance of winning the Gold Medal at either the Olympics or World Championships
USA
Canada

Tier Two: Teams that have almost no chance of advancing to the Gold Medal game, but will almost certainly comprise the group of teams that have a chance of making it to and winning the Bronze Medal game. This group of teams is largely comprised of the other countries that actually care about and play hockey.
Finland
Sweden
Czechia
Switzerland
Slovakia (even though they didn't qualify for the Olympics this time)
Russia (when they are eventually allowed by the IIHF to compete again)
Germany (I'm being extra generous here including them in this tier)

Tier Three: The teams that have no chance of medaling, but at least they get to compete.
Everyone else

Here is the basic plotline the tournament will almost certainly follow:

A whole bunch of games will be played. The USA and Canada will win every game when they are not playing each other. The winner of the USA-Canada game during the preliminary round will determine the overall #1 and #2 seeds for the quarterfinals and semifinals. The USA and Canada will play again for the Gold Medal, and two other teams from Tier Two will play for the Bronze Medal.
----

Having said all of that, here are my thoughts on some of the other teams, followed by my predictions for the tournament.


Team Canada:

The only other team that really matters is Team Canada. For the better part of the last thirty years, the games between Team USA and Team Canada have been close 50/50 contests with no clear favorite.

That still being the case - whichever of the two teams wins the Gold Medal this year will not be in the least bit surprising - I would not say that these teams (or programs) are necessarily mirror images of each other at the moment.

Over the last four years, the Team USA brain trust has done a better job than Team Canada's of integrating its next generation of top tier players into the senior national team. This is evidenced by the fact that Team USA's Olympic roster features 16 PWHL players and 7 current NCAA players (most of whom are expected to be major contributors), while Team Canada's entire 23 player roster is comprised of PWHLers.

As such, over the last calendar year the increasingly younger and faster Team USA has started, just a little bit, maybe, to create a wee bit of distance between themselves and Team Canada in terms of quality. This distance, if it exists, first evidenced itself at the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championships where Team USA beat the Canadians twice en route to the Gold Medal, and then again during the four game exhibition Rivalry Series this past November/December. Team USA swept all four games by scores of 4-1, 6-1, 10-4, and 4-1.

Given how important hockey is to Canadians, even women's hockey, the 2025 showings versus Team USA caused a storm of hand wringing and anxiety about the state of their women's hockey team up in the Great White North. Here is taste of what they're saying in Canada right now, with an emerging consensus that the 2026 Olympics are akin to a "Last Hurrah" for this iteration of their women's national team.

Opinion: Did Team Canada Just Select a Silver Medal Roster?

Personally, I think this recent talk of Team Canada perhaps being the underdog to Team USA is rather overblown. Maybe Team USA should be a very slight favorite this time around, but if so not by much, and if I were compare the teams by positions it would go like this.

Forwards: even
Defense: very slight advantage Team USA
Goalies: even

And keep in mind, the Gold Medal match is a single game, not a best of seven or best of five series, where anything can happen between evenly matched teams, and Canada still has the best (probably) player in the world in the Montreal Victoire's Marie-Philip Poulin, who is single-handedly capable of winning for her team a single game.

In addition to Poulin, a player I would look to have a break-out tournament for Team Canada is Daryl Watts of the Toronto Sceptres, who was the third leading scorer in the PWHL last season.


Now, let's take a look at the rest of the teams with either a chance to medal or at least play somewhat competitive games versus USA or Canada.


Team Sweden:

If Team Sweden weren't in Group B, which means they'll likely have to play either Finland or Czechia in the quarterfinal round, I'd like their chances even more to compete for the Bronze Medal, right up there with Finland, Czechia, and perhaps ahead of Team Switzerland.

Team Sweden features a handful of PWHL players on their roster, highlighted by captain Anna Kjellbin of the Toronto Sceptres, a host of players competing currently in D1 NCAA hockey in the United States, and a number of players competing domestically in Europe's top women's professional league, the Swedish SDHL.


Team Finland:

Another serious Bronze Medal contender is Team Finland. The strength of their team, in my opinion, are the forwards, highlighted by PWHL stars Michelle Karvinen of the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Susanna Tapani from the Boston Fleet. In her 2.5 seasons in Boston Tapani has been one of the team's leading scorers with a combined 19 goals and 20 assists, and I love the way she skates - more upright than most - because it reminds me of how I used to skate... except much more gracefully. In addition to the PWHLers on their roster, the Finnish team has a number of NCAA players and quality SDHL players on the front end. Of all the teams not named Team USA and Team Canada, the Finns may have the deepest roster of forwards capable of running four lines without much dropoff.

The back end, however, could be Team Finland's Achilles Heel. They have the ageless Jenni Hiirikoski for one more Olympic go-around, Ronja Savolainen from the Ottawa Charge, and a really high end college player in Nelli Laitinen (Minnesota - NCAA), but beyond that depth could be a problem. The top two defensive pairs will probably see a ton of ice time.


Team Czechia:

Another favorite to compete for the Bronze Medal is Team Czechia, who has been trending upwards of late in the pecking order of women's international hockey, both at the senior and junior levels. Compared to Team Finland I would say Finland probably has a bit more depth in quality, especially in terms of their forwards, but Czechia probably has a couple slightly higher end scorers.

Czech PWHLers that should make their top lines competitive even with the Americans and Canadians include Katerina Mrazova (Ottawa Charge), Natalie Mlynkova (Montreal Victoire), Denisa Krizova (Minnesota Frost), and Tereza Vanisova (Vancouver Goldeneyes).

The best player on Team Czechia, however, is New York Sirens rookie and former Colgate (NCAA) standout Kristyna Kaltounkova. In half a season in the PWHL she's already established herself as one of the league's top scorers, with 11 goals and 1 assist in 16 games, and is a beast in front of the net. I had the good fortune of getting to see her play in person back in December for the PWHL Takeover Tour game between the New York Sirens and Seattle Torrent at the American Airlines Center.


Team Switzerland:

The last of the teams with a credible shot at competing for the Bronze Medal is Team Switzerland, which I would put below Sweden, Finland, and Czechia in the pecking order of contenders.

Overall I'm less familiar with Teams Switzerland than the other three teams, as almost all of their Olympians play in Europe. I believe their goalie, Andrea Brandli, is pretty good, and of course their star player is the Boston Fleet's Alina Muller, who will have to have a big tournament for Team Switzerland to compete for a medal, having scored 14 goals and tallied 30 assists in 2.5 seasons of play in the PWHL.


The Rest of the Teams:

I know little to nothing about the rest of the teams and they're not that relevant anyway.


Predictions:

In part because it's what I really think, and in part because I'm a fan, I'm picking Team USA to win the Gold Medal over Team Canada, who will win Silver. I'm not overly confident in this pick as the teams are essentially even in terms of quality, but I give the slight edge to the Americans. If I were to put a percentage on it I'd say 54% Team USA wins gold, 45% Team Canada wins gold, and <1% for the rest of the field.

As far as the Bronze Medal goes, I'm going with Team Czechia over Team Finland in the Bronze Medal game, with Team Sweden losing a close game to either the Finns or the Czechs in the quarterfinals.

Thanks!

So as expected Team USA beat Team Czechia 5-1 to open their tournament yesterday morning. If you want a quick recap with highlights here's one from the USA Hockey website.

Team USA Defeats Czechia, 5-1, to Open Olympic Winter Games

Although Team USA outshot the Czechs 42-14, and the outcome of the game was never really in doubt, I didn't think it was Team USA's best performance. Compared to themselves at their best, the passing could have been better, their breakouts (from their defensive zone) and zone entries were often sluggish and just seemed a bit off, and I would have liked to see better finishing too (Hilary Knight's goal excepted); too many shots high and/or wide of the goal. I would say they played their "B" game yesterday, and simply outmatched their opponent with skill. I don't think yesterday's performance would have good enough to beat Team Canada, however.

That being said, it was the first game of the tournament, so a bit of rust can be expected, and unlike in previous Olympic cycles when the team would have practiced/played a lot more together leading up to the tournament, until last week the players were all still playing with their respective PWHL or NCAA teams. Nevertheless, I would expect over the next couple of games for the team to round more into form, and even if they only play their "B" game it should be enough to beat Team Switzerland and Team Finland without too much stress before having to face off against the Canadians to wrap up the preliminary round.

Next up for Team USA: Team Finland tomorrow morning... probably.

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Aside from the first games being played, there are already a few rather interesting, and potential significant, emerging storylines from the women's tournament.

1) Switzerland Erases Late Deficit To Beat Czechia In A Shootout

After losing to Team USA yesterday, Team Czechia, who I have (had?) as one of my favorites to compete for the Bronze Medal, surrendered a two-goal third period lead this morning to lose in a shootout to Team Switzerland, whom I had penciled-in as the likely last place finisher in the Group A standings.

For most of the game, which I had streaming in the background at work this morning, it looked like the Czechs had the game in hand, but the Swiss just kept grinding, continuing to narrow the shots on goal gap from earlier in the game. Not surprisingly, the Boston Fleet's Alina Muller played in a big role in the comeback, scoring one of the crucial third period goals and in the shootout.

With the shootout loss the odds of Team Czechia having to play Team Sweden in the quarterfinals just increased, which means a harder path than I thought (as of yesterday) they would have to reach the Bronze Medal Game.

2) Italy Opens 2026 Olympics With Women's Hockey Win In Front Of Packed Crowd Of 9,356

Perhaps less significant (but no less interesting) than Team Switzerland's shootout win over Team Czechia was host Team Italy's surprising win over Team France. Not only did the underdog Italians prevail, they dominated the French, outshooting them 46-15 en route to a 4-1 victory. While this outcome doesn't make Team Italy a serious medal contender, it does make the possibility of the hosts qualifying for the quarterfinals, a possibility at least worth considering.

3) Canada's women's hockey opener postponed due to stomach virus sidelining Team Finland

And finally, the most important development to come out of the first two days of the women's tournament. Yes, you read that right, most of Team Finland got sick, and rather than have the Finns play shorthanded, or have players puking on the ice between shifts, or just force them to forfeit the game to Team Canada if they couldn't ice a team, whoever is in charge decided to postpone the game, rescheduling it to the end of the preliminary round on Thursday, February 12.

This, of course, is a significant development, for pretty obvious reasons. 1) It certainly decreases Team Finland's chances of winning the gold, or any medal. 2) Who knows if what is going around will make other teams sick as well? 3) It forces both Team Canada and Team Finland to play a game with very little turnaround before the quarterfinals, increasing the effects of fatigue on both teams going into the knockout phase of the tournament 4) And, although it appears that Team Finland will probably be good to play Team USA tomorrow morning, there is no guarantee that will be the case.

Finland's norovirus situation appears to be improving ahead of scheduled game against the U.S.

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So there you have it... the first couple days of the women's tournament wrapped up

Anyone else have thoughts about the tournament so far?

How did you feel about Team USA's first game?

Watching our replay against Finland and I appreciate this write-up! Ladies are looking unbeatable but I haven't seen Canada play.