The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan is bringing back something that NHL fans have been asking for years after the NHL and IOC allowed them to join the games. They are bringing back NHL players into the Olympics for the first time since 2014 at the Sochi Winter Olympics, which will make it one of the most-viewed events in hockey history. The tournament will be best on best hockey, and Florida Panthers fans have a lot to cheer about. Plenty of players from the Panthers will be playing in this year’s Olympics.
Originally, Aleksander Barkov was supposed to play for Finland, but after tearing his ACL and MCL in a pre-season practice, he hasn’t played since and will not be able to play in the Olympics this year. For team Canada, Sam Reinhardt, Sam Bennet, and Brad Marchand will be playing, for team USA, Matthew Tkachuk and Seth Jones will be playing, for team Finland, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, and Niko Mikkola will be playing, for team Sweden, Gustav Forsling will be playing, for team Germany, Nico Strum will be playing, and for team Latvia, Uvis Balinskis will be playing. Sam Reinhardt is an Olympic veteran, with 2 IIHF gold medals and 2 other IIHF appearances. Matthew Tkachuk will be playing with his brother Brady, who is following in their father Keith’s footsteps, and won silver in the 2002 Olympics.
The tournament has been nothing but drama, as the construction of the rink is extremely last-minute, and the rink is not nearly as large as it should be. With the construction being rushed, the ice is going to be in awful condition and it will affect the quality of the matches. As a hockey player, I do not like playing on bad-quality ice. When the ice is soft and not as even, the puck doesn’t slide properly and skating is much worse, which overall makes the game worse. Also, along the boards, if the ice is uneven or if the boards have a gap, the puck is much harder to retrieve and your stick can get stuck and break in the gap. With the entire Olympic tournament being played on this ice, I can see how the ice will deteriorate and leave teams to struggle, and viewers will not enjoy watching lower-quality hockey. Not only is the construction delayed, but the rink is 6 ft shorter and 15 ft narrower than an Olympic rink should be.
As the tournament began, there seemed to be no issues with the ice, until the Denmark vs. USA preliminary game. Denmark launched the puck towards the USA net from half ice, and USA netminder, Jeremy Swayman, completely lost track of the puck and let it float past him into the net. After the game, replays became available showing how the puck blended into the boards because when the puck was at that height, the black puck got lost in the dark colored boards, making it impossible to track. Jack Eichel, Team USA forward, said, “I don’t know, I lost the puck up in the lights a few times tonight as well. The setting is a little bit different.” Since the construction for the rink was so badly planned and so rushed, it seems that the color of the boards was not thought about hard enough. Luckily, this goal didn’t phase team USA, as they won 6-3 over Denmark. As the tournament has gone on, Canada and the USA seem like the clear favorites since they have both won their quarter-final games in close overtime situations.
Luckily, the construction of the rink was complete, but we will be able to see if the rink will stay strong during the tournament or we will see non-stop complaints and low-quality hockey. With NHL stars playing in the Olympics for the first time in 12 years, the focus should be on national pride and the intense games, not on the quality of the ice and unfinished construction.
