Canada leans into experience in Olympic women’s hockey tournament

Call Canada’s Olympic women’s hockey team experienced, but not old, says its head coach.

Canada’s 2026 roster for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics features players seasoned in high-stakes games against archrival the United States.

Sixteen Canadians return from the edition that beat the U.S. in the final 3-2 for gold four years ago in Beijing. Ten are back from the squad that fell 3-2 in a shootout loss to the U.S. in 2018.

Canada opens its defence of its gold medal on Thursday against Finland at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena.

Canada and the U.S. have met in every gold-medal game except 2006, when Sweden upset the Americans in the semifinal. Canada is 4-2 versus the U.S. in the other Olympic finals.

The Canadians will lean into their experience in the face of a youth movement on the U.S. side.

Reigning world champion U.S., with an average age of 25.8 years, is bringing 13 players under the age of 25, including seven from the NCAA. 

Canada, with an average age of 29.2, is carrying five players under the age of 25. All play in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

“It’s a storyline that’s going to unfold with the U.S. being much younger and us being a little bit older,” Canadian head coach Troy Ryan said.

“You won’t hear me at the Olympics resorting to talking about age. It’s just not a factor. We have the best players we think are available to us right now.”

Canada meets Switzerland on Saturday, Czechia on Monday and the U.S. on Tuesday in Group A games. Sweden, Japan, Germany, France and host Italy comprise Group B. 

All Group A teams and the top three in Group B reach the quarterfinals. The semifinals are Feb. 16, and the medal games Feb. 19.

There are 61 PWHL players representing eight countries in the women’s tournament.

Czechia, coached by Canada’s Carla MacLeod, gave the U.S. a rough ride in last year’s world championship semifinal before falling 2-1. 

Czechia has the best chance of interrupting the run of finals between Canada and the U.S., but the North Americans are still the odds-on favourites to contest the gold.

The U.S. has momentum. The Americans were superior in speed and skill in sweeping last fall’s four-game Rivalry Series and outscoring the Canadians 24-7.

At the conclusion of the Rivalry Series, Ryan called the NCAA cohort on the U.S. team “a special group of young college players. That class is not like many others I’ve seen.”

Canada will attempt to counter younger, faster legs with smarts and savvy from its wealth of big-game experience, with five-time Olympian and captain Marie-Philip Poulin the team’s cornerstone.

Representing Canada in their fourth Olympic Games are 37-year-old defender Jocelyne Larocque, 35-year-old forward Natalie Spooner and forward Brianne Jenner, 34.

“We have so much history with this group of athletes,” Ryan said. “There’s so much leadership there, there’s so much skill there, there’s talent, there’s a winning pedigree. 

“There’s the right mix of some people having their first Olympic Games and pretty special for someone like Poulin going into her fifth.”

Canada was a goal machine four years ago in Beijing, where the team outscored the opposition 57-10 over seven games.

“This group, we’re not going to be that high-flying offensive team that we were,” Ryan said. “We’re probably going to have to be a little bit more defensive-minded, a little bit more physical, and a little bit more of what the PWHL has to offer. 

“For us to have success at this event we’ve got to make sure we’re smart on the penalty kill, we make sure we capitalize a little bit on the power play, but I think concept-wise, our group has been together for such a long time, the hope is that we’re all on the same page a little bit better than our opposition.”

— With files from Neil Davidson in Toronto.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2026.