2026 Winter Olympics live updates: Women’s hockey kicks off; Team USA curling defeats Norway, Switzerland

The women’s hockey competition at the Olympics has an influence you might not have expected.

Ohio State.

Perhaps you know the Buckeyes best as a football powerhouse. Yet since Nadine Muzerall became coach in 2016, the university has developed into a consistent force atop collegiate women’s hockey, as well, winning NCAA championships in 2022 and 2024 and playing in the 2023 and 2025 championship games. This season, they are ranked second nationally.

Twelve current or former Ohio State players are playing in this tournament for five different countries, including three for Sweden alone. 

“To have my teammates here on different teams, like USA and Finland, it’s so fun,” Hilda Svensson, a forward for Sweden who is also having one of the best freshmen seasons in the NCAA, told NBC News. “I hope we get the chance to play against each other.”

One of Svensson’s Ohio State teammates is Joy Dunne, a junior who represents the U.S. Trash talk between teammates has been kept to a minimum, Svensson said.

“We have been pretty nice to each other so far,” she said, “but I think if we play against them we’re going to be a little bit more mean, maybe, and especially maybe against Joy.” 

This is the first Winter Olympics since the creation of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, and with an exodus of 61 PWHL players representing their countries, the league opted to take a three-week break from competition. The NCAA season, however, did not pause — meaning the five active Buckeyes players in Milan are watching their teammates compensate for their absences in Columbus.

“They are doing really good,” Svensson said. “I’m so impressed how they did their last game against Duluth. I hope they can just keep going and win against Wisconsin this weekend.”