| NEW YORK AND TORONTO — Six nations from across Europe have officially named 22 players from the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) to their respective women’s ice hockey rosters for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, scheduled for Feb. 5–19. The respective roster announcements have been made over the last several weeks, concluding with Team Italy’s reveal today. The 22 international PWHL players span all eight of the league’s teams and represent Czechia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Sweden. The Boston Fleet lead the way with four international players on Olympic rosters, followed by the Montréal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, Toronto Sceptres and Vancouver Goldeneyes with three international players each, two from the Minnesota Frost and one from the Seattle Torrent. Czechia (8):Forwards: Klára Hymlárová (MIN), Kristýna Kaltounková (NY), Denisa Křížová (MIN), Natálie Mlýnková (MTL), Kateřina Mrázová (OTT), Tereza Vanišová (VAN)Defenders: Daniela Pejšová (BOS), Aneta Tejralová (SEA) Finland (4):Forwards: Michelle Karvinen (VAN), Susanna Tapani (BOS) Defender: Ronja Savolainen (OTT)Goaltender: Sanni Ahola (OTT) Germany (3):Forward: Laura Kluge (BOS)Defender: Nina Jobst-Smith (VAN)Goaltender: Sandra Abstreiter (MTL) Italy (1):Forward: Kristin Della Rovere (TOR) Switzerland (2):Forward: Alina Müller (BOS)Defender: Nicole Vallario (NY) Sweden (4):Forwards: Sara Hjalmarsson (TOR), Lina Ljungblom (MTL) Defenders: Anna Kjellbin (TOR), Maja Nylén-Persson (NY) Among the 22 PWHL players named, Vancouver forward Karvinen leads the group in experience and will compete in her fifth Olympics for Finland, having appeared in every Games from 2010 through 2022. Boston’s Tapani (FIN) and Müller (SUI) will each make their fourth Olympic appearance, while Toronto’s Hjalmarsson (SWE), New York’s Nylén-Persson (SWE), and Ottawa’s Savolainen (FIN) are each headed to their third Games after competing in 2018 and 2022. Ten players return for their second Olympics after debuting at Beijing 2022, including Hymlárová (MIN), Křížová (MIN), Mlýnková (MTL), Mrázová (OTT), Pejšová (BOS), Tejralová (SEA), and Vanišová (VAN) of Czechia, Vallario (NY) of Switzerland, and Kjellbin (TOR) and Ljungblom (MTL) of Sweden. Six players — Abstreiter (MTL – GER), Ahola (OTT – FIN), Della Rovere (TOR – ITA), Jobst-Smith (VAN – GER), Kluge (BOS – GER), and Kaltounková (NY – CZE) — will make their Olympic debuts in Milano Cortina. PWHL staff will also have a presence for European teams at the Olympic tournament. Carla MacLeod (OTT) will serve as Czechia’s head coach for the first time at the Olympics, while Danièle Sauvageau (MTL) takes on the role of general manager for Italy, joined by Mikael Nahabedian (MTL) as the team’s director of analytics and Alex Tremblay (MTL) as skills coach. Canada announced its roster on Jan. 9, featuring 23 PWHL players, while the United States named 16 PWHL athletes on Jan. 2, bringing the total number of PWHL players heading to the Olympics to 61, representing 30% of the league.Preliminary-round play begins Feb. 5, with several matchups featuring PWHL teammates competing against one another. The PWHL regular season will pause following games Jan. 28 and resume Feb. 26. |
