2026 Olympic Women’s Hockey Game Schedule:

2026 Olympic Men’s Hockey Game Schedule:

Hockey at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will take place from Thursday, Feb. 5 to Sunday, Feb. 22, ending with the gold medal game in the men’s tournament. Hockey is one of the few sports that will begin a day before the Opening Ceremony, which is on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, and will end on the same day as the Closing Ceremony. The women’s tournament starts Feb. 5 and finishes with medal games Feb. 19. The men’s tournament starts Feb. 11 and finishes Feb. 22.

Two venues will host hockey competition at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. The Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena will be the main venue and Milano Rho will serve as the secondary venue. They both house NHL-sized rinks which measure 70 meters long by 26 meters wide (200 feet long by 85 feet wide).

The men's tournament will include 12 teams. Each men's team can have a maximum of 25 players: 22 skaters and three goaltenders. The women's tournament will feature 10 teams. Each women's roster can include a maximum of 23 players: 20 skaters and three goaltenders.

While the full rosters for each team have not yet been announced, the return of NHL players to the Games will result in some big changes in the men's tournament in Milan.

Multiple NHL stars will make their Olympic debuts for Team USA in February, including Auston Matthews, the U.S. captain during 4 Nations and 2022 Hart Trophy recipient. Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk also will take the ice in Milan, following in their father Keith's footsteps. Matthew won back-to-back Stanley Cup titles with the Florida Panthers in 2024 and 2025.

Sidney Crosby will return for his third Olympics with Canada after winning gold in 2010 and 2014. Connor McDavid will represent Canada in his first Olympics in Milan after scoring the game winner in February’s 4 Nations Face-Off final against the U.S.

Other notable NHL players will compete in the 2026 Games, including David Pastrnak (Czechia), Leon Draisaitl (Germany), William Nylander (Sweden) and Aleksander Barkov (Finland).

In Milan, the U.S. and Canada are the expected gold-medal contenders in the men's tournament, with Canada currently the slight favorite. Since women's hockey debuted at the Olympics in 1998, every gold has been won by either the U.S. (2) or Canada (5). Despite Canada's domination of the gold-medal count, the U.S. won the 2025 world title with an overtime win over the Canadians and are looking to add an Olympic title in 2026.

If at the end of three 20-minute periods during a single preliminary-round game, the two playing teams are tied, the teams then play a “sudden death” overtime period of not more than five minutes, with the team scoring first declared the winner (same as the NHL regular season rules). A 10-minute overtime period is played in a semifinal game or quarterfinal game. The overtime period shall be played with each team at a numerical strength of three skaters and one goalie. If neither team has scored at the end of overtime, the game is decided by a shootout.

The shootout begins with five different players from each team taking alternate shots. The goalkeepers defend the same goal as in the overtime period. The players of both teams take the shots alternately until a decisive goal is scored. If the score is still tied after all shots are taken by each team, the procedure shall continue with a “tiebreak shoot-out” using the same or new players.