The schedules for the 2026 men's and women's Olympic hockey tournaments are out [https://milanocortina2026.olympics.com/en/news/ice-hockey-milano-cortina-2026-olympic-schedule]. This is expected to be the first Olympics with NHL players [https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/men-s-2026-olympic-hockey-teams-announce-their-first-six-players-tracker-and-reaction] since 2014 in Sochi, Russia, and the first-ever with PWHL [https://thehockeynews.com/womens] players on the women's side since the league began play in 2024. The 10-team women's tournament kicks off on Feb. 5, 2026, and lasts until Feb. 19. The 12-squad men's side runs from Feb. 11 to Feb. 22. Two venues in Milan will host the action on NHL-sized ice pads instead of the larger international ice sheets. The 14,000-capacity Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena will be built to host the games, while 5,700-capacity Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena in Milano Ice Park will serve as the secondary venue. MEN'S SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTS There are three groups in the preliminary round: * Group A: Canada, Czechia, Switzerland and France * Group B: Finland, Sweden, Slovakia and Italy * Group C: USA, Germany, Latvia, Denmark Canada won gold the last time NHL players participated in the Olympics, but Finland enters the tournament as the defending gold medallists after going undefeated in Beijing in 2022. The Canadians play their first game of the tournament against Czechia on Feb. 12. The Czechs eliminated the Canadians in back-to-back years at the world juniors, but at the men's level, Canada beat Czechia 4-3 in overtime in the preliminary round the last time they faced off at the 2024 World Championship. [https://thehockeynews.com/international] Finland kicks off the tournament against Slovakia on Feb. 11, while host Italy takes on Sweden in the night game. Rivals Finland and Sweden will face off on Feb. 13. The Americans won gold at the 2025 World Championship [https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/usa-strikes-gold-at-the-world-championship-for-first-time-in-92-years] and will kick off their quest for gold at the Olympics on Feb. 12 against Latvia. Preliminary round action runs until Feb. 15. The group winners and the team with the next-best record will qualify directly for the Feb. 18 quarterfinals while the remaining eight teams play a qualification-round game on Feb. 17. The semifinals are on Feb. 20, followed by the bronze medal game on Feb. 21 and the gold medal game on Feb. 22. Each team revealed the first six players to its roster on Monday. [https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/men-s-2026-olympic-hockey-teams-announce-their-first-six-players-tracker-and-reaction] A view during practice at the 2014 Winter Olympics. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/97257980-3766-469c-a6d7-06863c798952.jpeg] A view during practice at the 2014 Winter Olympics. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images) WOMEN'S SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTS The women's tournament has two groups of five teams, but the format is different than the men's side. Group A consists of the top-ranked teams, which all automatically qualify for the quarterfinal. The top three of five teams in Group B will complete the quarterfinal lineup. * Group A: Canada, USA, Finland, Czechia, Switzerland * Group B: Japan, Sweden, Germany, Italy, France Eight teams play on Feb. 5 to open the tournament, including the United States facing Czechia, Finland taking on Canada and Italy hosting France. The anticipated renewal of a rivalry between tournament-favorites Canada and the U.S. play on Feb. 10, the final day of the preliminary round. The Americans beat Canada in overtime to win the 2025 World Championship in April. [https://thehockeynews.com/womens/international/usa-wins-gold-in-overtime-thriller-canada-takes-silver] After a two-day break, the quarterfinals are split between Feb. 13 and 14. The semifinals are on Feb. 16, while the bronze and gold medal games are on Feb. 19. Get the latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News [https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMK-q0gsw7sXpAw?hl=en-CA&gl=CA&ceid=CA%3Aen] and by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.
