The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 have begun. The men’s hockey tournament, the first with NHL players since the 2014 Sochi Olympics, will feature all 12 teams playing three preliminary games in their respective groups, then all 12 moving on to a single-elimination playoff that will conclude with the gold medal game Feb. 22.
Here is a look at the games on Wednesday:
Slovakia vs. Finland (10:40 a.m. ET; Peacock, USA, ICI Télé, CBC Gem, TSN, CBC)
Team Finland, which won the first gold in its history at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, kicks off the men’s tournament against Team Slovakia at Santagiulia Arena. The Finns bring back 18 of their 23 players from the 4 Nations Face-Off last February. Two of the biggest additions this year are defensemen Miro Heiskanen (Dallas Stars) and Rasmus Ristolainen (Philadelphia Flyers), who were injured during the 4 Nations. Slovakia comes in with 10 players who helped it win bronze, its first medal in Olympic ice hockey, in Beijing. That includes Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky, who was the most valuable player of that tournament with seven goals in seven games. Finland defeated Slovakia 5-3 in the bronze medal game at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the only game between these countries in Olympics that have included NHL players (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014).
