Across the NCAA, dozens of women's hockey players will be preparing for the 2026 Olympic Games as nine of the ten nations participating in Milano Cortina have national team members in the NCAA. It will present challenges for nations playing preparation games, holding camps, and in particular, during the month long Olympic Games in February. It's a season with many unknowns for NCAA teams who are unsure how impacted their teams will be. "There's still some unknowns...but I think the biggest thing is just how we have to be flexible and we have to, you know, kind of go with what comes and know that there's going to be some adversity," said University of Minnesota head coach Brad Frost. Frost's Golden Gophers have several players in the mix for their national teams including Chloe Primerano (Canada), Abbey Murphy (USA), Josefin Bouveng (Sweden), Nelli Laitinen (Finland) [https://thehockeynews.com/womens/international/predicting-finland-s-2026-women-s-hockey-olympic-roster], and Tereza Plosova (Czechia). Brad Frost discusses the impact of the 2026 Olympics on NCAA women's hockey. "We're going to be missing players in and out of the lineup for practices, for games. And, you know, everybody's still kind of plowing forward and then reinserting those players when they return," said Frost. "Chloe Primerano missed the first couple weeks [https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/can-teens-caitlin-kraemer-or-chloe-primerano-make-canada-s-olympic-roster] here. She's now back. She comes back and Abbey Murphy is gone, you know, for a week of practice. And so, you know, it's if we aren't flexible, if we don't have a positive attitude about it, then I think it could get pretty tough." Ohio State is preparing for a similar process of watching players come in and out of their lineup this season with national team members from USA, Finland, and Sweden in their lineup. "We've never really had to manage that, this is going to be the first year that there is not a centralization for anybody," said Ohio State head coach Nadine Muzerall. "This will be new for all teams where our players from all over the world will be taken each month to train for their Olympic teams so it's going to be a new environment for everyone." Across the WCHA teams will be hit hard with losses during the Olympics including Minnesota's five potential players. Wisconsin and Ohio State both have six possible players, Minnesota-Duluth four likely athletes, and St. Cloud potentially five. February across the WCHA will feature very different rosters for teams heading down the NCAA stretch. "It's going to look different. But, you know, we're confident in our culture and who we are and excited for each of the individuals that are going to have that opportunity."
