The wait is almost over.
Men’s best-on-best hockey, Olympic-style, returns on Wednesday after a 12-year absence.
Today’s NHL players grew up with the lore created by having pros at the Games — Dominik Hasek shutting out the world in 1998, Canada and the U.S. waging gold-medal battles in 2002 and 2010 — and they all desperately wanted players from the world’s best league to return after two Olympic cycles away in 2018 and ’22.
Now, it’s time to lace ’em up under the five rings.
The men’s tournament kicks off Wednesday morning at 10:40 a.m. ET in Milano, when Finland and Slovakia clash. With that in mind, we’ve put together a primer to refresh your memory on a couple things and bring you up to speed for the return of international men’s hockey on the biggest stage.
Keep up with Olympic men's hockey
The men's hockey tournament at Milano Cortina 2026 runs from Feb. 11-22. Follow along with all the scores and standings.
Scoreboard
Tournament Format
Twelve teams are divided into three groups of four. Those groups are:
Group A: Canada, Switzerland, Czechia, France
Group B: Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Italy
Group C: United States, Germany, Latvia, Denmark
Teams will play a three-game preliminary round, with a three-point system to determine group standings (three points for a regulation-time win; two points for an extra-time win, one point for an extra-time loss).
The squads with the four best records will gain a bye to the quarterfinal. The remaining eight teams will play do-or-die games in what’s termed the “qualification round.”
After that, it’s straight forward: quarterfinals, semifinals, bronze-medal game, gold-medal game.
Schedule
Wednesday, Feb. 11
Slovakia vs. Finland, 10:40 a.m. ET
Sweden vs Italy, 3:10 p.m. ET
Thursday, Feb. 12
Switzerland vs France, 6:10 a.m. ET
Czechia vs Canada, 10:40 a.m. ET
Latvia vs USA, 3:10 p.m. ET
Germany vs Denmark, 3:10 p.m. ET
Friday, Feb. 13
Finland vs Sweden, 6:10 a.m. ET
Italy vs Slovakia, 6:10 a.m. ET
France vs Czechia, 10:40 a.m. ET
Canada vs Switzerland, 15:10 p.m. ET
Saturday, Feb. 14
Sweden vs Slovakia, 6:10 a.m. ET
Germany vs Latvia, 6:10 a.m. ET
Finland vs Italy 10:40 a.m. ET
USA vs Denmark 3:10 p.m. ET
Sunday, Feb. 15
Switzerland vs Czechia, 6:10 a.m. ET
Canada vs France, 10:40 a.m. ET
Denmark vs Latvia 1:10 p.m. ET
USA vs Germany 3:10 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Feb. 17
Four qualification round games
Wednesday, Feb. 18
Four quarterfinal games
Friday, Feb. 20
Semifinal 1: 10:40 a.m. ET
Semifinal 2: 3:10 p.m. ET
Saturday, Feb. 21
Bronze medal game: 2:40 p.m. ET
Sunday, Feb. 22
Gold medal game: 8:10 a.m. ET
Venues and rink dimensions
All games will be played in Milano at either Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena (the larger venue) or Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena.
After much handwringing about the quality of the ice and the state of the Milano Santagiulia rink leading up to the event, on balance things have been just fine through the first days of the women’s tournament that began last week.
In terms of dimensions, the Olympic sheet will be the same width as NHL ice (85 feet) but slightly shorter in length (196.85 feet, to be exact, compared to 200 feet).
Overtime and shootout
In the preliminary round, teams will play a five-minute, three-on-three overtime. If nobody scores, we move to a shootout.
In elimination games before the gold-medal contest, OT will be a 10-minute, three-on-three period followed by a shootout.
For shootouts, five players — not three, like the NHL — will alternate shots until a decisive goal is scored. After a team has made five attempts, players who’ve already taken a shot can attempt again.
There is no shootout in the gold medal game. If the contest is tied after 60 minutes, the teams will play three-on-three overtime in 20-minute periods until a winner is determined.
Referees and rules
Five of the 12 referees working the tournament are from the NHL. By and large, expect the officiating to feel pretty similar to an NHL contest. That said — unlike the 4 Nations Face-Off last February that was purely an NHL production — fighting gets you ejected from the game and there will always be a stricter definition of what constitutes a check to the head in the international game.
What happened while NHLers were gone?
In 2018, the Winter Games were held in PyeongChang, South Korea. The gold medal was claimed by Olympic Athletes from Russia, who defeated Germany in the final. (Russia, as a whole, was banned from competing due to doping violations, but some athletes from the country were able to compete. In Italy, Russia is banned from the hockey competition by the IIHF due to the war in Ukraine.)
The Germans scored a huge semifinal upset over Canada in 2018 to advance to the final. Canada, led by the likes of former NHLers Derek Roy, Chris Kelly and Mason Raymond, did rebound to nab a bronze medal victory over the Czech Republic (now Czechia).
Four years later, in 2022, Finland won its first-ever men’s hockey gold by defeating a team of players from Russia — this time competing under the banner Russian Olympic Committee — in the final. Slovakia also broke ground by winning its first-ever Olympic medal in men’s hockey, pulling off an upset to down Sweden in the bronze medal game.
Three storylines for the 2026 Games
Can Canada keep it up?
The Canucks have claimed the past four best-on-best events, a run that stretches from the 2010 Games in Vancouver, the 2014 event in Russia, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off. Just as it was a year ago heading into the 4 Nations, goaltending is the biggest question mark plaguing the Canadians. Jordan Binnington, who came up big in the 4 Nations final after a so-so tournament, has struggled mightily in the NHL this year. Will he be supplanted by either Logan Thompson or Darcy Kuemper?
Upsets in the making?
Canada and Team USA — the two finalists at the 4 Nations — certainly enter the event as co-favourites, but it would be a huge mistake to overlook the field in Italy. And we’re not just talking about established hockey nations like Sweden, Finland and Czechia. Middleweights like Switzerland and Germany have serious NHL talent on their rosters at this point, with Germany boasting an NHL league MVP in Leon Draisaitl and the Swiss running out a defence anchored by a Norris Trophy winner in Roman Josi and somebody who could challenge for a Norris very soon in J.J. Moser. There might not be seven or eight teams that can win gold in Italy, but there are absolutely seven or eight who — with timely scoring and fantastic goaltending — could achieve victory against any squad in the world on a given day. And when, after a three-game preliminary round, it’s all win-or-go-home, absolutely anything is in play.
Legacies, new and old, on the line
This will be Sidney Crosby’s fifth best-on-best event with Canada and he has not come up short yet. Crosby’s legacy is already secure, but will only grow larger if he can win a third Olympic gold at this late stage of his career.
At the other end of the spectrum, an entire generation of super-elite NHLers are finally getting their shot at Olympic gold. The good news is, with the league set to continue participating at the Games in 2032 and beyond, this won’t be the only chance for many of them. Still, you know the likes of Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and Quinn Hughes don’t want to wait any longer for the golden moment they’ve been dreaming of.
