Olympic hockey game schedules set for 2026 Milan Cortina Games
The U.S. women's hockey team will face Czechia in its first game of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, while the U.S. men play Latvia in their opener.
The women's tournament starts Feb. 5, one day before the Opening Ceremony, and finishes with medal games Feb. 19. The men's tournament starts Feb. 11 (the U.S. opens Feb. 12) and finishes Feb. 22, the day of the Closing Ceremony.
Advertisement
In the women's tournament, the U.S. and Canada have met in six of the seven Olympic finals. Canada is the reigning Olympic champion. The U.S. is the reigning world champion.
They're joined in Group A by Czechia, Switzerland and Finland. At the world championship in April, the U.S. edged Czechia 2-1 in a close semifinal, though the Americans outshot the Czechs 45-11.
OLYMPIC HOCKEY SCHEDULES: Women | Men
All of the Group A teams — the world's five highest-ranked teams — automatically qualify for the quarterfinals and will be seeded based on their group results.
In the men's tournament, NHL players will participate for the first time since the 2014 Sochi Games.
Advertisement
The U.S. is grouped with Latvia, Denmark and Germany.
The three group winners, plus the single best second-place team, advance to the quarterfinals. The other eight teams play in a qualification round to determine the last four quarterfinalists.
Finland won the 2022 Olympic title without NHL players. Canada won the last two Olympics with NHL players. The U.S. last won Olympic men's hockey gold at the 1980 Lake Placid Games.
2026 Olympic hockey rosters
2026 Olympic men's hockey rosters: first six players for all 12 teams
All 12 Olympic men's hockey teams named their first six players on June 16.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tanaka and Murao strike more gold for Japan at judo worlds
Japan's Sanshiro Murao beat defending champion and countryman Goki Tajima (blue) in the men's -90kg final at the world judo championships in Hungary (Attila KISBENEDEK) Shiho Tanaka won the women's -70kg title and Sanshiro Murao the men's -90kg to bring Japan's tally to six golds at the world judo championships on Tuesday. Japan have won six of the 10 titles already attributed after five days of competition in Budapest. Advertisement Tanaka won the first individual world title of her career after settling for bronze last year in Abu Dhabi. She beat world number one Lara Cvjetko in the final, with the Croatian judoka settling for silver as in 2022. Olympic silver medallist Murao, 24, won an all-Japanese final, defeating defending world champion Goki Tajima on penalties after a duel of 8 minutes and 30 seconds. Georgia's Lasha Bekauri was eliminated in the round of 16. At 24, he still has no world gold medals, despite his two Olympic titles. dif/ea/jc
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Simone Biles accused of bullying as MyKayla Skinner reignites Olympics feud after Riley Gaines spat
MyKayla Skinner has entered the chat. The retired Olympic gymnast, 28, has accused former teammate Simone Biles of bullying, days after the 11-time Olympic medalist apologized to Riley Gaines for comments made during a heated social media debate over transgender athletes. Speaking recently on 'The Will Cain Show,' Skinner reiterated sentiments made in a statement Friday to One America News that alleged she 'endured being belittled, dismissed, and ostracized behind the scenes by Simone.' 7 MyKayla Skinner and Simone Biles in 2021. Getty Images 7 The former Olympic gymnast accused her ex-teammate of bullying. YouTube/Fox News 'Well, throughout my career, there's been many times where I have been belittled and bullied by Simone and have wanted to keep quiet for the other athletes,' Skinner said on Fox News. 'And there's just been many times through my Olympic journey and through camps, training, everything that we have gone through, have been multiple times where she has come and belittled all of us, and I've wanted to stay silent through this because she has a huge platform.' Skinner's comments to Cain come days after she spoke out in support of Gaines, who engaged in a fiery back-and-forth with Biles earlier this month. 7 MyKayla Skinner won silver at the Summer Games in Tokyo. AP 'As an athlete who has dedicated years to a sport, I've always believed that true competition should elevate us—not diminish others. That's why it's deeply troubling to see @Simone_Biles publicly label a fellow female athlete a 'sore loser'—simply for expressing valid concerns about fairness in women's sports,' Skinner said in a statement Friday. 'I commend and appreciate @Riley_Gaines_ for having the courage to speak up. Women like her are not only standing for fairness, but for the future of female athletics itself. She deserves support—not ridicule. 'Throughout my own career, I endured being belittled, dismissed, and ostracized behind the scenes by Simone. The pressure to stay silent was immense. I kept quiet out of respect—for the sport, for my teammates, and for the ideal of unity among athletes.' Reps at Octagon, which counts Biles as part of its roster of talent, did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment. 7 Simone Biles sparked headlines in June 2025 after she and Riley Gaines got into a fiery social media exchange about transgender athletes. Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency / Former teammates at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Skinner and Biles, 28, became entangled in a war of words last July on the eve of the Summer Games in Paris. Skinner, an Olympic silver medalist, criticized the 'work ethic' of the 2024 gymnastics squad. Biles, who won gold in Paris alongside Suni Lee, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles and Hezly Rivera, appeared to shade Skinner with the Instagram caption, 'Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions.' Skinner, who apologized for the remarks, later made an emotional plea to Biles over 'death threats' she and her loved ones received in the fallout. 7 Riley Gaines responded to comments made by Simone Biles on X in June 2025. Getty Images She concluded her statement Friday by stressing the importance of 'lifting each other up — not tearing one another down for speaking hard truths.' The heated social media debate between Gaines and Biles first sparked headlines after the Outkick contributor responded to an early June post about a Minnesota high school softball team that won a state championship with a transgender pitcher on its roster. 'Comments off lol,' Gaines wrote. 'To be expected when your star player is a boy.' Biles later called Gaines, 25, 'truly sick' for the comments. 7 Simone Biles during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Getty Images 'You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!!' Biles exclaimed. 'But instead … You bully them…' In a follow-up message, Biles wrote, 'Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.' Days after the fiery back-and-forth, Biles expanded on her 'fair competition' stance in a lengthy message on X, where she issued an apology to Gaines. 7 Simone Biles addressed the comments she made to Riley Gaines in a recent post on X. FilmMagic 'I wanted to follow up from my last tweets. I've always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport. The current system doesn't adequately balance these important principles, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges, and it didn't help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for,' Biles wrote last week. 'These are sensitive, complicated issues that I truly don't have the answers or solutions to, but I believe it starts with empathy and respect.' Gaines said she accepted Biles' apology in a statement on X. 'I welcome you to the fight to support fair sports and a future for female athletes. Little girls deserve the same shot to achieve that you had,' she said.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Flyers' abundance of early-round draft picks offers ‘some opportunities for movement'
VOORHEES, N.J. — Philadelphia Flyers general manager Daniel Briere suffered emotions similar to those of many local fans after the NHL draft lottery last month. Speaking at his annual pre-draft media availability on Tuesday at the Flyers' Training Center, and sitting on a riser alongside assistant general manager/draft guru Brent Flahr, Briere acknowledged that he was 'bummed' to see the Flyers drop to the No. 6 overall pick in next week's draft despite having the fourth-worst record in the league this season. Advertisement But now? 'Not anymore. Not after spending the time that we've done the last few weeks, and are still every day watching more video on (the top prospects),' he said. 'We feel more and more comfortable and confident. There's obviously the No. 1 guy that everyone sees, but after that… I feel really good about it.' That 'No. 1 guy' that Briere is alluding to is defenseman Mathew Schaefer, expected to go to the New York Islanders with the first pick. It seems evident that center Michael Misa, generally ranked as the second-best prospect, also will be gone before the Flyers select. But after that, the next half-dozen or so players all have comparable levels of skill, according to Briere, so the Flyers will add a high-end prospect, even though they ended up with a lower draft position than they had hoped for when the regular season concluded on April 17. 'We feel that there's, from (No.) 2 or 3 to 8, those guys are really, really close,' Briere said. 'We'll have a tough decision to make at (No.) 6. We know that. But instead of having to choose between five or six guys (if they were higher), it might be two or three guys.' The Flyers are still in the process of putting their final rankings together, and, according to Flahr, there are '10 to 12' players they've zeroed in on. There are 'still some unsettled arguments' amongst the amateur scouting staff, Flahr added, that will have to get sorted out before the first round on June 27. But Briere and Flahr were in agreement regarding the organization's broad approach: they're going to take the best player available on their list with their highest pick, regardless of position. 'At the top, especially at No. 6, we're looking at the best player available,' Briere said. Said Flahr: 'We obviously are well aware of our own needs. At the same time, there's some players, especially at No. 6… We're going to go with the best player on our board.' Advertisement That's particularly notable, considering what is still lacking in the Flyers' system: depth at the center position. The club began to address that in last year's draft, when they chose Jett Luchanko with the No. 13 overall pick and Jack Berglund with their first of two second-round selections at No. 51, but it remains an area of need. While the 18-year-old Luchanko — who surprisingly made the Flyers out of camp this past season and appeared in four scoreless games before he was reassigned to his junior team in Guelph — could still develop into a top-six center, adding another high-end prospect down the middle would seem to be vital. And, as it so happens, while there might not be a Connor Bedard or Macklin Celebrini-type in this year's class, the top of the draft is particularly center-heavy. Centers such as Anton Frondell, Caleb Desnoyers and James Hagens could be available at No. 6. Or they might be gone, potentially resulting in the Flyers selecting someone such as Porter Martone, thought by many to be the top winger in the draft. 'Early in the draft, top 10, there's a lot of centermen, which isn't always the case,' Flahr said. To be clear, this could all just be public posturing, which is fairly common around the league this time of year. Briere even admitted that the Flyers have explored moving up in the draft, which suggests that grabbing one of those high-end centers could be a priority. Perhaps they even have their eye on the San Jose Sharks and that No. 2 pick, and Misa. The complication with that, though, is, 'it feels like everybody's trying to move up at the moment,' Briere said. 'We have said from the beginning that we would like to try to move up if it was possible, but there's just not a lot of options there. Teams are all looking to move up, so we'll have to be patient. Maybe there's an opportunity that comes where we can create value going the other way, also.' Advertisement Selecting a player with the No. 6 overall pick — assuming they stay there — will only be the beginning of what will surely be a frenzied two days for the club. The Flyers have two other first-round picks — acquired from Colorado and Edmonton, respectively — along with four picks in the top half of the second round. They own 11 picks overall, including one in the third round, two in the fifth round and one in the sixth round. Flahr said last month that he believes there is some depth in the second round before it starts to drop off, and he repeated that on Tuesday. As it stands now, the Flyers have six selections from among picks Nos. 22 to 48. 'I think there's a number of different types of players — whether it's smaller, skilled wingers; there's still some centermen on the board that may be middle of the lineup type of guys, but still valuable players; and there's some big defensemen that are going to maybe need a little bit of time but guys that our (scouts) are excited about (and) have a lot of potential,' Flahr said, referring to those half-dozen draft slots. Said Briere: 'There's a lot of players that our guys like in in that window after (No.) 22 through 48, so there's actually a really good chance that we keep the picks and we really build around those guys.' Of course, whether the Flyers end up using all 11 of their picks is impossible to predict. It's probably inevitable that they'll at least attempt to package some of them together in order to secure what they believe is another high-end prospect or two, at the very least. But one thing they'll have is options. 'I think there's going to be some opportunities for movement,' Briere said. 'Having more picks is always beneficial, and it just gives you a lot of freedom to do a lot of different things.'
