Winter Olympics 2026: Sarah Nurse on Canada’s ice hockey gold defence: “I’ll do anything to help this team win”
Canada prepares for toughest path to gold yet
Canada arrive in Milan as reigning Olympic champions, but their road back to the top will be anything but easy.
Familiar rivals from the United States have already delivered a pair of reminders, beating Canada in the 2025 IIHF World Championship final and taking the most recent Rivalry Series 4-1.
“Yeah, I think there was a lot we needed to learn and work on from those games,” Nurse said. “The Americans came out full tilt and at certain points we sat back on our heels. We had some good periods and some not-so-good ones.
“Moving forward, it’s about leaving that in the rear view mirror and focusing on our game. We’ve made some really good adjustments, being more aggressive on the ice and checking hard.”
The margins in women’s hockey have never been thinner internationally, a shift driven in large part by the establishment of the Professional Women’s Hockey League in 2024. Every player on the Canadian Olympic roster now competes in a nightly best-of-best environment, sharpening skills and heightening rivalries that previously existed only a few times a year.
“I hope so,” Nurse said when asked if the PWHL experience would translate to the Games. “We play best on best every single night and those are intense games. That preparation is huge coming into the Olympics when it’s the same pressure environment. I think it’s equipped us really well to be here.”
Even the setting has reminded the veteran forward how different this moment feels. After a first Games as a wide-eyed rookie in PyeongChang 2018 and a second staged under strict protocols in Beijing, Milan has offered something new.
“It feels like the only rink in the world without advertisements, just the Milano Cortina Olympic rings,” Nurse smiled. “Seeing everyone arrive with wide eyes, it feels like our first Olympics again. You imagine the Canadian fans in the stands, waiting for our parents to come in. It’s going to be a really cool environment.”
That environment will turn real on 7 February when Canada open their tournament against Switzerland, having had the first game against Finland postponed due to medical reasons.
