The Minnesota Wild will have a strong presence at the men’s hockey tournament at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 with 10 players and several staff members representing their country.
Forward Matt Boldy and defensemen Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes will represent the United States. Forwards Joel Eriksson Ekand Marcus Johansson and goaltenders Filip
Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt will play for Sweden. Defenseman Jonas Brodin was
named to Sweden’s roster on Jan. 2 but will not play due to injury. Forward Nico Sturm was named to Germany’s preliminary roster in June. Faber (2022) and Johansson (2014, Silver Medal)) will be playing in their second Olympics.
Two Iowa Wild players, defenseman David Spacek (Czechia) and goaltender Samuel Hlavaj (Slovakia), will also play for their country at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
The Minnesota Wild is well represented on Team USA’s hockey operations staff. President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin is the General Manager of the 2026 United States Men’s Ice Hockey Team. Head Coach John Hynes is an Assistant Coach for Team USA, Wild Assistant General Manager Chris Kelleher is the Director of Player Personnel, Wild Head Athletic Trainer John Worley and Assistant Athletic Trainer and Massage Therapist Travis Green will serve as athletic trainers, and Wild Orthopedic Surgeon Joel Boyd is the team physician.
The men’s ice hockey tournament begins Feb. 11 with the 12 participating teams divided into three groups:
Group A: Canada, Czechia, Switzerland, France
Group B: Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Italy
Group C: United States, Germany, Latvia, Denmark
Each team will play every other team in its group once in preliminary play to determine seeding. The teams are then ranked first through 12th based on their performance in the preliminary round. The top four teams - three group winners and the highest-ranked remaining team - advance directly to the quarterfinal, while the remaining eight teams will match up against one another in a single-elimination style to determine who advances to the quarterfinal.
Finland is the defending champion, defeating the Russian Olympic Committee 2-1 in the Gold Medal Game in 2022. Slovakia claimed a 4-0 win vs. Sweden in the Bronze Medal Game.
