Manitoba's Olympians ignite the ice Thursday! Witness Niederreiter, Hellebuyck, Stone and more battle for glory on the world stage.
The four members of the Winnipeg Jets competing in the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games will see game action on Thursday.
Additionally, with both the Canadian men's and women's national teams suiting up, all players from Manitoba will see their teams hit the ice as well.
Photo by Geoff Burke/USA Today Jets forward Nino Niederreiter faces France in early-morning action in his tournament opener bright and early on Thursday morning.
Then, it is Josh Morrissey and the Canadians, who take on Czechia at 9:30 AM. Winnipegger Mark Stone is also expected to suit up for the Canadians, while fellow Manitobans Seth Jarvis and Travis Sanheim will likely serve as healthy scratches in this game.
Finally, the United States will take on Latvia at 2:00 PM central time, to which goaltender Connor Hellebuyck will start the game in net, while Kyle Connor will suit up at wing.
On the women's side of things, Manitobans Kati Tabin and Jocelyne Larocque face-off against Finland at 7:30 in preliminary round action.
With earlier start times across the board, the teams will have considerable recovery time before their next matches as the Olympics wear on.
Canada will face Switzerland on Friday, while the Canadian Women are expected to play in the quarterfinal game that day as well.
USA will get a break until Saturday, where they take on Denmark in the afternoon.