Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026: Group A preview

MILAN -- The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 men’s hockey tournament begins Wednesday when the 12 nations compete in three groups.

Group A consists of Canada, Czechia, France, Switzerland. Finland, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland will play in Group B. Group C features Denmark, Germany, Latvia and the United States.

The games will be televised on NBC’s family of networks in the U.S. and on CBC in Canada.

Each team will play the other teams in its group in round-robin play. The three teams that finish first, along with the highest-placed second-place team, advance to the quarterfinals.

Each of the other eight teams will be seeded by order of finish in pool play and play each other to determine the other for quarterfinalists.

The qualification playoffs are Feb. 17, followed by the quarterfinals the next day. The semifinals are Feb. 20, and the bronze medal game is Feb. 21. The gold medal game is Feb. 22, the last day of Olympic competition.

Here's a look at each Group A team, in predicted order of finish:

CANADA

Coach: Jon Cooper

Most recent medal: Bronze, 2018

Gold medals: 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1948, 1952, 2002, 2010, 2014

Schedule: Feb. 12, Czechia (10:40 a.m. ET); Feb. 13, Switzerland (3:10 p.m. ET); Feb. 15, France (10:40 a.m. ET)

Outlook: As always, winning gold is the goal and expectation for Team Canada. It has finished first in each of the past four international best-on-best tournaments; gold medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and 2014 Sochi Olympics, at the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, and it captured the championship at the 4 Nations Face-Off one year ago. The Canadians are loaded with stars, led by centers Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers) and Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), the top two scorers in the NHL this season with 96 and 93 points, respectively. Macklin Celebrini (San Jose Sharks) is fourth in the NHL with 81 points (28 goals, 53 assists). The 19-year-old will become the youngest NHL player to play for Canada in the Olympics. Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar is tied for fourth in the NHL among defensemen with 57 points (15 goals, 42 assists). Two-time Olympic gold medalist Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), who is 38 years old, will reprise his role as Canada's captain for the fourth straight best-on-best competition. Nineteen of the 23 players who competed for Canada at 4 Nations are on the Olympic roster. Canada was even able to replace injured Tampa Bay Lightning forwards Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli with two players who played at the 4 Nations -- Sam Bennett (Florida Panthers) and Seth Jarvis (Carolina Hurricanes). However, not surprisingly Canada's biggest question mark is in goal, even though it has three Stanley Cup winners in Jordan Binnington (2019), Darcy Kuemper (2022) and Logan Thompson (2023). Binnington is the likely favorite to start the tournament considering he led Canada to the championship at the 4 Nations Face-Off. However, he has struggled this season in 32 games with the St. Louis Blues, posting eight wins, a 3.65 goals-against average and .864 save percentage. Binnington is last in all three categories among the 12 Canada-born goalies who have appeared in at least 20 NHL games this season. Thompson has 19 wins, a 2.45 GAA and .912 save percentage in 39 games with the Washington Capitals, and Kuemper has 14 wins, a 2.59 GAA and .900 save percentage in 36 games with the Los Angeles Kings. "Everyone on the team is an unbelievable player, and they've all dealt with pressure and high-pressure moments, and everyone on Team Canada thrives under the pressure, so I don't see that being an issue," said Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, a two-time Olympic gold medalist. "Yes, it's a fail if we don't win gold, but we're going in there and we're just going to play our butts off and whatever happens, happens."

CZECHIA

Coach: Radim Rulik

Most recent medal: Bronze, 2006

Gold medals: 1998

Schedule: Feb. 12, Canada (10:40 a.m. ET); Feb. 13, France (10:40 a.m. ET); Feb. 15, Switzerland (6:10 a.m. ET)

Outlook: Czechia will quickly find out where it stands in the tournament with its first game against Canada. The Czechs should feel confident. They aren't far removed from winning on the world stage; they won the gold medal at the 2024 IIHF World Championship and are bringing 18 players from that team (11 forwards, five defensemen and two goalies) to the Olympics. Included in that group are David Pastrnak (Boston Bruins), who is sixth in the NHL with 71 points (22 goals, 49 assists) in 52 games, and Martin Necas (Avalanche), who is tied for 15th in the League with 62 points (22 goals, 40 assists) in 52 games. Ironically, three of Czechia's top players didn't play at the World Championship two years ago; forward Radek Faksa (Dallas Stars), defenseman Filip Hronek (Vancouver Canucks) and goalie Dan Vladar (Philadelphia Flyers). The one negative is Pavel Zacha (Bruins) won't be playing because of an upper-body injury; he was replaced by Filip Chlapik, who last played in the NHL in 2020-21. Outside of some star power up front with Pastrnak, Necas and Tomas Hertl (Vegas Golden Knights), who has 49 points (22 goals, 27 assists), Czechia's best chance to win a medal lies with its goaltending. Karel Vejmelka (Utah Mammoth), Lukas Dostal (Anaheim Ducks) and Vladar have been among the top goalies in the NHL this season. Vejmelka is tied for the NHL lead with 27 wins to go along with a 2.58 GAA and .903 save percentage in 44 games. He's arguably the biggest reason the Mammoth are in a Stanley Cup Playoff position at the Olympic break. Dostal has 21 wins, a 2.92 GAA and .897 save percentage in 38 games, and Vladar has been a rock for the Flyers with 17 wins, a 2.47 GAA and .905 save percentage in 33 games. "Very excited, just to be there with the best-on-best and just hockey with the world's best athletes,” Dostal said. “It's going to be kind of a business trip, but at the same time it's going to be very enjoyable and I'm really looking forward to it."

SWITZERLAND

Coach: Patrick Fischer

Most recent medal: Bronze, 1948

Gold medals: None

Schedule: Feb. 12, France (6:10 a.m. ET); Feb. 13, Canada (3:10 p.m. ET); Feb. 15, Czechia (6:10 a.m. ET)

Outlook: Switzerland is hoping to end a 78-year Olympic medal drought with arguably the best and most decorated roster it has ever brought to the tournament. Recent success on the international stage should also set up the Swiss for a chance at an Olympic medal. Switzerland took the silver medal at the past two IIHF World Championships, losing to Czechia in 2024 and the United States last year. The Swiss have 10 NHL regulars led by two team captains, defenseman Roman Josi (Nashville Predators) and center Nico Hischier (New Jersey Devils). Hischier has two of his New Jersey teammates with him on this roster -- defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler and forward Timo Meier. Akira Schmid, the Golden Knights goalie, is expected to be Switzerland's No. 1 to start the tournament. Beyond the 10 NHL regulars are another seven Swiss players who have previously played in the NHL -- goalie Reto Berra, defensemen Dean Kukan and Tim Berni, and forwards Denis Malgin, Sven Andrighetto, Christoph Bertschy and Calvin Thurkauf. Even more important to Switzerland's chances is team chemistry; 19 players on the roster played on the 2025 World Championship team. "I know those guys really well," Josi said. "A lot of those guys on the national team, I know them from World Championships and some guys I've played with for a long time. It's always really fun just going back and seeing those guys because you don't see them that often. I have some really, really good friends on that team. I feel like every time we go to World Championships, it's such a family and everybody is playing for the same thing. You play for your country."

FRANCE

Coach: Yorick Treille

Most recent medal: None

Gold medals: None

Schedule: Feb. 12, Switzerland (6:10 a.m. ET); Feb. 13, Czechia (10:40 a.m. ET); Feb. 15, Canada (10:40 a.m. ET)

Outlook: To call France an underdog in this group would be a massive understatement. Montreal Canadiens forward Alexandre Texier is the only current NHL player on France's roster. Texier, who has 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in 30 games this season, will become the first player to represent an NHL team on Team France at the Olympics; the only other times France arrived with NHL players was 1998 and 2002. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is the most well-known French player in NHL circles. The 40-year-old forward has played in 700 NHL games, the most among any France-born player, and had 138 points (64 goals, 74 assists) with the Flyers, Golden Knights, Avalanche, Lightning and Seattle Kraken from 2014-24. In addition to Texier and Bellemare, Yohann Auvitu and Stephane Da Costa are the only other players on France's roster with NHL experience. Auvitu played 58 games from 2016-18 with the Devils and Oilers. Da Costa played 47 games with the Ottawa Senators from 2011-14. France also has Capitals prospect Antoine Keller, who was the 206th pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. The 21-year-old goalie had a contract with Hershey of the American Hockey League to start the season, but after being loaned to South Carolina of the ECHL that contract was terminated and he is now playing in Switzerland's second tier league. Keller played four games in the 2025 World Championship, posting a 3.98 GAA and .897 save percentage. “The beautiful thing is that, hockey-wise, we are in the Olympics, we're all newbies,” Bellemare said. “We're all together enjoying the moment, living the moment for the first time.”