With return of the NHL and rise of women pros, Olympic hockey set to sizzle on ice
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Mark Sappenfield Senior global correspondent
| Milan
Olympic hockey is getting a reboot this year.
On Wednesday, National Hockey League players returned to the Olympics. 鈥淏est on best鈥� could be a speech bubble above every men鈥檚 hockey interview. For the first time since the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the world鈥檚 top hockey players (except those from banned Russia) are facing each other in full international competition. The United States and Canada begin play on Thursday.
Needless to say, the players, the sport, and darn near anyone who has ever laced up a pair of hockey skates is giddy.
Why We Wrote This
The Olympics welcome the best men鈥檚 hockey players back after a 12-year absence, and competition will showcase a changing landscape in the women鈥檚 game as the top professionals skate. At the center is the sport鈥檚 great rivalry: the US and Canada.
But there鈥檚 a new dynamic among the women, too. This is the first Olympics since the creation of the Professional Women鈥檚 Hockey League, and while the effect has not yet been dramatic, there are signs that the landscape is changing. The聽leading scorer in the PWHL, Krist媒na Kaltounkov谩, is Czech, and she is here in Milan.
Most obvious, though, is the effect these changes are having on the sport鈥檚 great rivalry: United States vs. Canada.
On the men鈥檚 side, the Four Nations Face-Off mini-tournament a year ago, among Canada, the U.S., Finland, and Sweden, set the stage. Within the first nine seconds of their opening round match, the U.S. and Canada had three fights. Though Canada won the spirited final in overtime, American forward Brady Tkachuk, who threw punches in the second of those fights, said the tournament 鈥渨as probably my favorite hockey memory.鈥�
The two teams are hurtling toward each other in Milan. Starting Thursday, it鈥檚 game on.聽聽
On the women鈥檚 side, the rise of the PWHL has meant something different. In its early days, the U.S.-Canada rivalry went beyond unfriendly into genuine dislike. Famously, American players once refused to get on an elevator with Canadian players.
鈥淭he majority of my defensemen hated them and hated them with a passion,鈥� Sami Jo Small, a former goaltender for the Canadian team, told . 鈥淟ike, they dressed up like them for Halloween.鈥�
It was not a compliment.
But now, there is a growing sisterhood off the ice as Americans and Canadians work together to grow the game 鈥� and as they play on the same PWHL teams. It has not diminished the rivalry, however. The Canadian鈥檚 chippy response to their 5-0 preliminary round drubbing by the U.S. on Tuesday showed that. But perhaps there is a little more mutual respect in the handshake line.
鈥淚 got to play with some of them [in the PWHL], and I was like, 鈥楧ang, I really like them!鈥欌�� said American forward Kendall Coyne Schofield at an October media event.
Over everything looms the politics thing. Last year鈥檚 Four Nations Face-Off took place at the height of U.S. tariffs and President Donald Trump saying Canada should become the 51st state. That talk has since lessened somewhat. But in winning the Four Nations, Canadian forward Connor McDavid made the stakes plain.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think people quite understand how much that tournament meant to us, the players,鈥� he wrote聽, a website that publishes first-person stories by athletes. 鈥淚n that moment, with everything on the line, I think we all remembered what it was to be a hockey fan. To be a Team Canada fan. To be Canadian.鈥�
This is the Olympics. The stakes never get smaller here.
鈥淭he Canadians had our number for a while,鈥� said T.J. Oshie, a former Olympian and now a broadcaster, at an October media event in New York. 鈥淵ou saw the intensity the U.S. brought to the [Four Nations] tournament. I think the rivalry will be stronger than ever.鈥�
Mr. Oshie won an NHL title with the Washington Capitals in 2018. But he acknowledges the Olympics are unique. 鈥淚 was only nervous for three NHL games. I was nervous for every Olympic game. I put it right up there with the Stanley Cup.鈥�
鈥淭he stakes are so much higher because it鈥檚 single elimination,鈥� after the preliminary round, he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like you鈥檙e playing a Game 7 every time.鈥�
Certainly, politics has played a role in the rivalry. But it鈥檚 the players themselves who have turned up the intensity. The American Tkachuk brothers聽鈥� Brady and Matthew聽鈥� in particular, delight in being a burr in opponents鈥� hockey pants.
鈥淭hey are very annoying sometimes,鈥� Mr. Oshie said in October. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e trying to get [your opponents] off their game. That鈥檚 something the Tkachuk brothers bring. It鈥檚 mental.鈥�
It鈥檚 also physical. Both were involved in fights in the Four Nations matchup.
Fights between American and Canadian women have not been unheard of, either. In the run-up to the 2022 Beijing Games, the teams went at each other twice within a matter of weeks. During one, all 10 skaters on the ice were handed major fighting penalties.
The rivalry has not been for the faint of heart (or jaw). And no one on either side suggests the two sides will be making dinner plans during faceoffs here in Milan. The thoroughness of Tuesday鈥檚 thumping will have added a fierce desperation to Canadian pride.
But all acknowledge the backdrop is different.
鈥淭here鈥檚 just more friendly faces sort of in in-between spaces, right?鈥� U.S. captain Hilary Knight told the . Now, when she sees Canadian forward Julia Gosling, her PWHL teammate from the Seattle Torrent, she says hello, 鈥渨hich I probably wouldn鈥檛 before.鈥�
After fighting for the creation of the PWHL for so many years, hockey's leading women are finding that the results are now lifting the entire sport, from the Czechs to the Americans and Canadians, together.
鈥淚n so many ways, the climate has changed,鈥� Ms. Knight said at the October media event. 鈥淲e can build on each other鈥檚 successes. We鈥檙e all going to benefit in the same way.鈥�
At least, after the game-ending horn blows.聽
