Team Canada will look to defend its world champion title at the IIHF Women’s World Championship, taking place April 9-20 in Ceske Budejovice, Czechia.

As with the 4 Nations Face-Off, the tournament will place a spotlight on the longstanding rivalry between Team Canada and Team USA. In the first 23 world championships Canadians have squared off against Americans in the final a total of 22 times. And with 13 world titles to its name, Team Canada has the better track record of coming out on top.

Another similarity to the 4 Nations Face-Off is that the world championship will potentially serve as a preview of a Team Canada roster that could take to the ice at the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games. 

Here’s what you need to know to cheer on Team Canada once again.

Who is playing for Team Canada at the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship?

Team Canada will take a strong team of 14 forwards, eight defenders, and three goaltenders to Ceske Budejovice, offering a preview of the potential Olympic roster. Team Canada is coached by Troy Ryan, who also led the Canadians to Olympic gold at Beijing 2022 and will lead them at the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Games.

Team Canada’s roster includes 18 athletes who represented Canada at the 2024 World Championship (Erin Ambrose, Kristen Campbell, Emily Clark, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Renata Fast, Sarah Fillier, Julia Gosling, Brianne Jenner, Jocelyne Larocque, Emma Maltais, Sarah Nurse, Kristin O’Neill, Marie-Philip Poulin, Danielle Serdachny, Ella Shelton, Natalie Spooner, Laura Stacey, Blayre Turnbull), and five athletes who will make their world championship debut wearing the maple leaf (Jennifer Gardiner, Ève Gascon, Sophie Jaques, Chloe Primerano, Daryl Watts). The roster features 17 Team Canada Olympians.

Team Canada’s roster includes some familiar veteran names. “Captain Clutch” Marie-Philip Poulin—who earned that nickname due to her penchant for scoring game-winning goals in the highest pressure moments, including three different Olympic gold medal games—will make her 13th world championship appearance for Team Canada. Poulin currently leads the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) in goals scored.

Renata Fast, Sarah Fillier and Daryl Watts lead the PWHL in assists, with 15 apiece at the time of writing. Fast will make her seventh world championship appearance for Canada, while Fillier will make her fifth, and Watts her first. Watts is also third overall in points in the PWHL. 

Ann-Renée Desbiens, the top-ranked goalie in the PWHL with a 0.932 save percentage and 1.85 goals against average, is expected to be between the pipes for Team Canada. Desbiens was a hero for Team Canada during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, setting a Canadian Olympic record (for men and women) with 51 saves in a single game.

Sarah Nurse is another familiar name to Team Canada fans, as she broke the points record for a single Olympic tournament while playing for Canada at Beijing 2022.

At only 18 years old, rookie Chloe Primerano is the youngest on the team, while three-time Olympic medallist Jocelyne Larocque is the team’s eldest player at 36.

What is the Olympic significance of the IIHF Women’s World Championship?

The 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship will be the last major international tournament before the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, making it a prime opportunity for nations to test-drive potential Olympic rosters, or see where they might need to make changes. World championship head coach Troy Ryan is set to lead Team Canada at Milano Cortina 2026, providing consistency across the two tournaments.

In particular, the world championship will serve as an opportunity for Team Canada and Team USA to see where their rivalry stands ahead of Milano Cortina 2026. In the seven iterations of the women’s ice hockey at the Olympic Games, Team Canada and Team USA have faced off for the gold medal six times. Team Canada is the defending Olympic champion, having defeated the USA 3-2 in the final at Beijing 2022.

Milano Cortina 2026 is set to be the first women’s Olympic tournament since the launch of the PWHL in 2024, so the impact of the new league on Olympic play is yet to be determined. The vast majority of Team Canada’s players (23 out of 25) play within the PWHL. The other two players are in the NCAA as they pursue post-secondary education.

What is Team Canada’s history at the IIHF Women’s World Championship?

Canada enters the 2025 tournament as the defending champion, having defeated the United States 6-5 in overtime at the 2024 World Championship.

From its 23 appearances at the IIHF Women’s World Championships since the tournament began in 1990, Team Canada has 13 gold medals to its name, along with nine silver and one bronze medal. 

As it does at the Olympic Games, the Canada-USA rivalry runs deep at the IIHF Women’s World Championship. Team Canada has faced Team USA in the championship final 22 times. 

What is the format for the 2025 Women’s World Championship?

Teams will be divided into Group A (Canada, Czechia, Finland, Switzerland, and USA) and Group B (Germany, Hungary, Japan, Norway and Sweden). All five teams from Group A and the top three teams from Group B will move on to the playoff round.

The quarterfinal matches will pit A1 vs B3, A2 vs B2, A3 vs B1, A4 vs A5.

The semifinals will match up the top-ranked team against the lowest-ranked semifinalist, while the second- and third-ranked semifinalists play against one another. The winners advance to the championship game, while the losing teams will play for bronze.

The tournament utilizes a three-point system:

• Three points awarded for a win in regulation time
• One point awarded to each team for a tie at the end of regulation time
• An additional point (for a total of two points) is awarded to the winning team after a five-minute overtime period or shootout
• No points are awarded to a team that loses in regulation time

As mentioned above, tied games in the preliminary rounds of the tournament result in a five-minute overtime period, followed by a shootout if no goal is scored during overtime. Overtime periods are played three-on-three (three skaters, plus a goaltender).

In the event of a tie during a playoff game, 10 minutes of overtime will be played before a shootout. In the gold medal game, 20 minute periods of overtime will be played until the winning goal is scored.

During a shootout, five players from each team will alternate taking shots. If the game remains tied after all ten players have shot, the shootout will continue with a tie-break shot by one player on each team. It can be the same or new players who take the tie-break shots.

What is Team Canada’s schedule at the IIHF Women’s World Championship?

Team Canada will have a pre-tournament camp in Tabor, Czechia ahead of the preliminary round, which begins on April 10 for the Canadians.

Preliminary round games:

• Thursday, April 10, 1:00pm ET Canada vs Finland
• Friday, April 11, 7:00pm ET Canada vs Switzerland
• Sunday, April 13, 1:00pm ET Canada vs USA
• Monday, April 14, 1:00pm ET Canada vs Czechia

Quarterfinal games will take place on Thursday, April 17, followed by semifinals on Saturday, April 19. The medal matches will be played on Sunday, April 20.

Fans can tune in to watch games on TSN.

Team Canada 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship Roster

Forwards:

Laura Stacey
Sarah Fillier
Brianne Jenner
Sarah Nurse
Emily Clark
Emma Maltais
Marie-Philip Poulin
Blayre Turnbull
Kristin O’Neill
Danielle Serdachny
Jennifer Gardiner
Daryl Watts
Julia Gosling
Natalie Spooner

Defence:

Sophie Jaques
Jocelyne Larocque
Renata Fast
Ella Shelton
Chloe Primerano
Erin Ambrose
Micah Zandee-Hart
Claire Thompson

Goaltenders:

Kristen Campbell
Ann-Renée Desbiens
Ève Gascon

Paris 2024 marked a significant moment for gender equity in the Olympic movement. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, an equal number of quota spots were available for men and women, making them the first Games to achieve gender parity.

As we celebrate progress in gender equity, it is important to acknowledge the tireless work that it has taken to get to this point, and some significant pushback that women’s sport has encountered along the way. 

And the work is far from over. Women remain underrepresented in many other areas of the Games, including but not limited to, coaches, officials, and media. The Olympic Winter Games have yet to achieve gender parity for athletes, though Milano Cortina 2026 is set to be the most gender-balanced Games yet with 47 per cent of quota spots allocated to women.

In the spirit of remembering the efforts of the past as we continue to push towards the future, below is a list acknowledging the Olympic sports for which there was a gender gap in the inclusion of women’s competition versus men’s. 

Paris 1900: Only men competed at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Four years later, at Paris 1900, 22 women competed, compared to 975 men. There were women’s events in tennis and golf, and women competed alongside men in croquet and sailing.

St. Louis 1904: Women’s archery debuts at the Games. Men’s archery had debuted four years earlier, at Paris 1900.

Stockholm 1912: Women’s swimming makes its Olympic debut, although women are only allowed to compete in two events, versus the seven available for men, who had been competing in Olympic swimming since 1896, marking a 16 year gender gap. Swimming was the first “major” Olympic sport to include women. Stockholm 1912 also marked the debut of women’s diving, which had been open to men for eight years, since St. Louis 1904.

Paris 1924: Women’s fencing debuts at the Olympic Games, 28 years after men’s fencing. At this time, women only had one event available to them, while men had six. 

Amsterdam 1928: Women’s athletics and artistic gymnastics make their Olympic debuts. Men’s competition for both sports had existed since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, marking a gender gap of 32 years. 

There were only five women’s athletics events available for women, compared to the 22 available for men. There was only one women’s artistic gymnastics team event, while men had a team event as well as six individual events.

One of the women’s athletics events at Amsterdam 1928 was the 800m. In direct contradiction to what transpired on the track, media reported afterwards that several women collapsed and others could not finish the 800m race. This account gained traction despite photographic and video evidence showing that all nine women completed the race and that a couple of them laid down on the track after a world-record effort (as was common for male athletes to do). The IOC and IAAF proceeded to bar women from competing in races longer than 200m for over 30 years under the patronising guise of “protecting” women from themselves. 

London 1948: Women’s kayaking debuts at the Olympic Games. Only one event is available to women, while men had the opportunity to compete in two kayak events as well as two canoe events (which women would wait seven more decades to compete in, more on that below). Men’s paddling had been part of the Olympic program since 1936, marking a gender gap of 12 years.

Oslo 1952: Women’s cross-country skiing debuts at the Olympic Games. Men had competed in cross-country skiing since the inaugural Olympic Winter Games in 1924, marking a gender gap of 28 years.

Helsinki 1952: Women are allowed to compete in Olympic equestrian events for the first time, 52 years after men began competing in equestrian at Paris 1900. At these Games, women were limited to competing only in dressage. Four years later, they would be allowed to compete in jumping and then finally eventing at Tokyo 1964.

Squaw Valley 1960: Women’s speed skating makes its official Olympic debut, 36 years after men’s speed skating was on the program of the first Olympic Winter Games. 

Mexico City 1968: Women compete in Olympic shooting for the first time, while men had been competing in it since the first modern Olympic Games 72 years earlier.  Starting at Mexico City 1968, women competed directly against men. Separate women’s shooting events were not included until 1984.

Montreal 1976: Women’s rowing debuts at the Olympic Games 76 years after men’s rowing was first included. Women’s basketball debuts 40 years after men’s basketball.

Moscow 1980: Women’s field hockey makes its Olympic debut, marking a gender gap of 72 years after men’s field hockey was part of the program.

Los Angeles 1984: LA 1984 features the first Olympic women’s marathon. The men’s marathon had been contested since the beginning of the modern Olympic Games in 1896, marking a gender gap of 88 years. Women’s road cycling also made its Olympic debut 88 years after the men’s competition.

The 1984 Olympic Games were also when the first two women-only sports were included on the Olympic programme—rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized (now artistic) swimming.

Seoul 1988: Women’s track cycling debuts at the Olympic Games. Only one event was available to women versus the five available for men. Track cycling for men was included in 1896, marking a 92-year gender gap. Seoul 1988 also marks the debut of separate sailing events for women.

Albertville 1992: Women’s biathlon makes its Olympic debut 32 years after the inclusion of men’s biathlon.

Barcelona 1992: Women’s judo debuts at the Olympic Games 28 years after men’s competition.

Atlanta 1996: Women’s soccer makes its Olympic debut 96 years after men’s soccer.

Nagano 1998: Women’s hockey debuts 78 years after men’s hockey became an Olympic sport during the summer Games at Antwerp 1920. Women’s curling debuts as the sport returns to the Olympic programme for the first time since 1924 (where there had only been a men’s event). 

Sydney 2000: Women’s weightlifting makes its debut at the Olympic Games, 104 years after men’s weightlifting, which was one of the original sports of the modern Olympic Games. Women’s water polo made its Olympic debut a century after the men’s competition. Women’s modern pentathlon made its Olympic debut 88 years after the men’s sport.

Salt Lake City 2002: Women’s bobsleigh is contested at the Olympic Games for the first time, 78 years after men competed in the sport at the first Olympic Winter Games.

Athens 2004: Women’s wrestling makes its Olympic debut. Men’s wrestling was one of the sports included in the first edition of the modern Olympic Games, making for a gender gap of 108 years.

London 2012: Women’s boxing makes its Olympic debut. Men first competed in Olympic boxing in 1904, making for a 108-year gender gap. Boxing was the last summer Olympic sport that was for men only, so London 2012 marked the first Games where women competed in every sport on the summer Olympic programme.

Sochi 2014: Women’s ski jumping makes its Olympic debut, 90 years after the men’s edition of the sport.

Tokyo 2020: Women’s canoe events debut at the Olympic Games, 84 years after men were given the opportunity to compete in canoe events. 

READ: Historic Olympic achievements by Team Canada women

The game was a rematch of sorts, after an intense meeting between the hockey rivals in the preliminary stage of the tournament saw Team Canada fall 3-1 to the Americans. 

With the legendary rivalry between Canada and the USA fanned by the flames of tense international relations, this tournament seemed to have taken on significance beyond pride of sport, with fans of both nations deeply invested. 

The CN tower and Montreal’s Olympic stadium were lit up red and white ahead of the game, and the Empire State Building was lit up red, white, and blue. While the game took place at TD Garden in Boston, an influx of Canadian fans were there to support.

Earlier in the day, Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper announced that forward Travis Konecny would be swapped in favor of Seth Jarvis. A second change came a few minutes before the start of the match with defenseman Thomas Harley taking the place of Josh Morrissey, due to illness.

Team Canada’s chemistry has grown, on and off the ice, throughout the short tournament.

“I’ve never been a part of a team that has gotten this close, this fast,” Cooper said ahead of the game. 

To give a sense of how seriously the players were taking this game—Team Canada forward Nathan MacKinnon described his pre-game nerves as the same as those of a Stanley Cup final.

And it was MacKinnon who was the first to strike, leading off the scoring for Team Canada within the first five minutes of play. MacKinnon’s shot from the top of the face-off circle beat American goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who was unable to locate the puck. Thomas Harley and Sam Reinhart recorded assists on the goal.

Team USA equalized in the final minutes of the first period, with Brady Tkachuk slipping one past Jordan Binnington, assisted by Team USA captain, Auston Matthews.

The teams headed to the dressing room at the end of the first period with the score tied, and Canada leading the USA in shots 11-10.

The next goal also belonged to the Americans. Jake Sanderson took the lead for Team USA at 7:32, off of a rebound from Matthews. Zach Werenski was awarded the secondary assist.

Sam Bennett brought it back to a tie game with a beauty of a shot over the shoulder of Hellebuyck. Bennett was set up by a pass from Mitch Marner, Team Canada’s overtime goal scorer against Sweden earlier in the tournament.

Once again, the end of the period found the score tied, and this time the shots as well, 19-19.

It was a frenetic third period, but despite high-danger chances from both teams, the clock ran down on 60 minutes of play with the score still tied 2-2. Team USA led in shots, 27-23. One can only imagine the mood in the dressing rooms.

Championship overtime play means five-on-five for as long as it takes, but it only took Connor McDavid eight minutes and eighteen seconds to crown Team Canada champions of the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

Jordan Binnington, who held the net for Team Canada in all four games of the tournament rose to the challenge when it mattered with 31 saves. Nathan MacKinnon was named MVP of the tournament.

With Sidney Crosby and Drew Doughty as the only players with Olympic experience, for the majority of Team Canada, the award presentation was their first time having a medal placed around their neck while wearing a Team Canada jersey. It was a visibly emotional moment for many of them.

While American fans may have booed the Canadian national anthem at the beginning of the night, those boos were silenced as O Canada rang loud and true through to the rafters of TD Garden, and each player took their turn hoisting the trophy.

For all those for whom this tournament has been a welcome shot of adrenaline, and who can’t wait to see Team Canada back in action, it won’t be too long until best-on-best hockey is back again! NHL players will return to the Olympic Games at Milano Cortina 2026 for the first time since Sochi 2014. The preliminary round of the men’s tournament will begin in less than a year, on February 11, 2026.

In short track speed skating, the Canadian Ice Maples claimed the inaugural ISU Team Crystal Globe while William Dandjinou wrapped up his season with one more win and the men’s Crystal Globe.

Cynthia Appiah secured a career-best result in women’s monobob at the IBSF World Cup in Lillehammer, while Melissa Lotholz and Skylar Sieben slid to the podium in the two-woman event. Over in Calgary, Rachael Karker thrilled the home fans watching the ski halfpipe World Cup.

But that’s not all. Read on for all the highlights you might have missed.

Short Track Speed Skating: Canada and Dandjinou capture Crystal Globes

Canada won the inaugural ISU Team Crystal Globe, finishing as the top nation in the first season of the ISU Short Track World Tour which concluded in Milan, Italy. Counting results from every race this season, the Canadian Ice Maples topped the final standings with 8731 points—1812 more than the second-place Dutch Lions.

READ: Canada wins team Crystal Globe, Dandjinou caps World Tour season with 1000m gold

William Dandjinou wrapped up the World Tour with a victory in the men’s 1000m on Sunday. But the day before, he had mathematically clinched the Crystal Globe as the top overall men’s skater on the circuit, dethroning two-time winner Park Ji-won of South Korea. Dandjinou is Canada’s first ever Crystal Globe winner.

Canadians collected two more medals on Sunday, bringing the team’s season total to 37. In the mixed relay, Danaé Blais, Florence Brunelle, Félix Roussel, and Jordan Pierre-Gilles won the silver after a video review elevated them from third place. Dandjinou, Roussel, Pierre-Gilles and Maxime Laoun closed out the day with silver in the men’s 5000m relay.

There were also a few near-podium finishes. After being involved in a crash in the women’s 1000m final, Blais settled for fourth place. Dandjinou was fourth in the men’s 500m. And the women’s 3000m relay also finished in fourth place.

Bobsleigh: Two podiums in World Cup season finale

Cynthia Appiah equalled her career best result as she took second place in women’s monobob at the IBSF World Cup in Lillehammer. Appiah finished 0.15 back of the winner, Bree Walker of Australia. After posting the second-fastest time in the first run, Appiah was able to hold her position over Germany’s Lisa Buckwitz—who claimed the Crystal Globe for the season—by 0.01 following the second run.

This is Appiah’s first podium of the season. Her only other runner-up result as a pilot came in November 2022 on the home track in Whistler.

After finishing seventh in monobob, Melissa Lotholz drove her two-woman sled with brakeman Skylar Sieben to a third-place finish. While it is Lotholz’s 20th career podium in World Cup and/or World Championship competition, it is her first as a pilot. The Canadians broke up a German podium sweep, finishing 0.02 ahead of fourth place.

It was a last minute crew change that put Sieben in Lotholz’s sled. All season, Lotholz has been racing with Leah Walkeden, but after battling illness during the week, Walkeden decided on Sunday to sit out in the hopes of giving Canada a good chance at a podium.

This was the eighth and final IBSF World Cup stop of the season. The athletes will now head to upstate New York where the IBSF World Championships will get underway in Lake Placid on March 6.

Ski Halfpipe: Karker grabs podium position in Calgary

It was a big night under the lights in the Calgary halfpipe as Rachael Karker capped off the 2024-25 FIS Freeski World Cup season with a third-place finish. Scoring 87.00 points on her third run, Karker pushed teammate Cassie Sharpe off the podium and into fourth place. Sharpe’s best score had been 86.50 on her second run in the final.

Karker now has 16 career World Cup podiums, which includes seven in Calgary dating back to 2019. Two other Canadians made it to the women’s final, with Dillan Glennie finishing sixth and Amy Fraser placing seventh. In the men’s final, Brendan Mackay secured a fifth-place finish, while Andrew Longino finished ninth overall.

Hockey: Canada to face USA in 4 Nations Face-Off final

Team Canada played two intense games at the 4 Nations Face-Off this weekend, culminating with the Canadians locking up their spot in Thursday’s championship game against Team USA.

Canada took on the archrival Americans for the first time in the tournament on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal. To say that emotions were running high amongst both players and fans would be an understatement—the game featured three fights in the first nine seconds.

Team Canada struck first as Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the tournament, but the next two goals belonged to Americans Jake Guentzel and Dylan Larkin. With a score of 2-1 heading into the last minutes of play, Team Canada pulled goaltender Jordan Binnington for the extra skater to no avail, as Guentzel notched an empty netter to secure the U.S. victory and a spot in the championship game.

On Monday, Team Canada faced Team Finland in a must-win game at Boston’s TD Garden. Team Canada came out swinging with two goals in the first five minutes of play. Once again, McDavid started the scoring for Team Canada, followed by a goal from Nathan MacKinnon. Brayden Point added another goal to put Canada up 3-0 through the first period.

The second period saw MacKinnon score his second of the game off of an assist from Team Canada captain and fellow Nova Scotian, Sidney Crosby. The fourth goal by the Canadians spurred Finland to make a goaltending change, swapping Kevin Lankinen for Juuse Saros.

It was over halfway through the third period that Finland finally got themselves on the board with a goal by Esa Lindell. Sending Saros to the bench for the extra attacker in the final minutes of play, the Finns mounted an epic final offensive, with Mikael Granlund scoring twice within the last two minutes to make it a one-goal game. But Crosby got the empty netter to secure the 5-3 win.

Team Canada will take on Team USA in Boston on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Alpine Snowboard: Career best 4th for Moisan in Val Saint-Comê

The Canadian Alpine Snowboard Team thrilled the home fans in Val Saint-Comê, Québec during two days of PGS racing amidst heavy snowfall.

On Sunday, 20-year-old Aurelie Moisan advanced to the Small Final, finishing fourth overall. It is her best ever World Cup result, surpassing the 10th-place finish she recorded the day before. Moisan won gold at the 2024 FIS Junior World Championships. She wasn’t the only Canadian woman to get out of the qualification round on Saturday, as Kaylie Buck finished 11th overall, which is a career best result for her.

Two Canadian men made it to the quarterfinals on Saturday, as Ben Heldman and Arnaud Gaudet finished seventh and eighth, respectively. That is a career best result for Heldman, while for Gaudet, it is his best ever PGS World Cup result. Heldman followed up with a 10th-place finish on Sunday.

Snowboard Cross: Top 5 for Grondin in Cortina d’Ampezzo

After being unable to finish his semifinal heat, Eliot Grondin won the small final to finish fifth overall at the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Fellow Canadian Liam Moffatt was penalized in his semifinal and finished eighth overall.

In the women’s race, three Canadians made it to the quarterfinals, with Meryeta O’Dine finishing 10th, one spot ahead of Tess Critchlow. Audrey McManiman finished 13th.

Both teams had taken the same pathway through the tournament to arrive at this game, with overtime wins against Sweden and regulation losses to the United States. As such, both teams entered the game in a must-win situation to advance to the final against Team USA on Thursday.

The Canadians were pleased to welcome defenseman Cale Makar back into the lineup after he was sorely missed in the matchup against Team USA due to illness. Makar has scored more NHL goals this season than all of Team Finland’s six defensemen combined.

Immediately upon puck drop, it was clear that this would be a different type of game than Canada – USA’s emotional matchup on Saturday night, which featured three fights within the first nine seconds of play.

Team Canada got right to it with back-to-back goals. Connor McDavid scored his second goal of the tournament at 4:13 with a well-placed wrist shot before Nathan MacKinnon followed suit with another goal 46 seconds later. Sam Reinhart and Brandon Hagel picked up assists on the second goal.

After five minutes of play, Canada was already leading by two, forcing Finnish head coach Antti Pennanen to use his timeout to give his team a moment to regroup.

Canada’s Brayden Point added his name to the scoresheet with a rebound off of Finnish goaltender Kevin Lankinen. Travis Sanheim and McDavid picked up assists on the sequence.

The first period closed out with Team Canada riding strong momentum with a 3-0 advantage, leading Finland 11-5 in shots.

Team Canada kept its foot on the gas in the second period. At just over five minutes into the second, MacKinnon scored his second of the game off of a pass from Team Canada’s captain, Sidney Crosby. Both players hail from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, and have developed special chemistry through years of summer training together. Sam Reinhart received the secondary assist.

With the score at 4-0 for the Canadians, Finland made a goaltending switch, bringing in Juuse Saros to take over the Finnish net.

Team Canada headed to the dressing room for the second intermission with that 4-0 lead, also leading the Finnish team in shots 19-17.

Over halfway through the third period, Finland finally got onto the scoresheet with an unassisted goal from Esa Lindell. As the clock wound down in the third, Saros went to the bench for the extra Finnish attacker.

That strategy proved effective. With 1:40 to go, Finland found the back of the net, this time with a goal by Mikael Granlund. Seconds later, Granlund scored again to make it a one goal game, ratcheting up the tension in a game that had been dominated by Team Canada for the first two periods. Granlund was assisted by Aleksander Barkov and Sebastian Aho.

But it was Captain Canada to the rescue with Crosby scrambling up after taking a hit to score on Finland’s empty net.

Team Canada earned their second shot against Team USA in what is sure to be a high-intensity final. The championship match for the 4 Nations Face-Off will take place at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday at 8pm ET.

In their second game of the 4 Nations Face-Off, Team Canada fell 3-1 to Team USA. 

Heading into puck drop, the Canadians and Americans had faced off a total of 19 times in best-on-best tournaments since the 1976 Canada Cup, with Canada holding a 14-4-1 advantage over Team USA. The teams last clashed at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Prior to the game, Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper announced two changes to his line-up: forward Sam Bennett would take Travis Konecny’s place, while Thomas Harley, recalled urgently following Shea Theodore’s injury, would replace defenseman Cale Makar, who is ill.

READ: Team Canada players honoured and excited to don the maple leaf for 4 Nations Face-Off

Immediately on puck drop, it became clear that the nine years apart has not lessened the intensity of this rivalry one bit, and USA-Canada relations off the ice have only added to the tension. 

That tension exploded with a fight between Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel immediately upon puck drop. When those two players were separated, Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett immediately dropped the gloves. Two fights within the first three seconds of the game.

Play moved down the ice, but not for long before J.T. Miller and Colton Parayko went at it. Three fights in nine seconds.

At 5:31 into the first period, Team Canada assistant captain Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the tournament with a beautiful backhand shot past US goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. McDavid was assisted by two-time Olympic gold medallist, Drew Doughty, with the secondary assist going to Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington.

It wasn’t long before the Americans equalized with a goal by Jake Guentzel, assisted by Jack Eichel.

A frenetic first period closed out with a score of 1-1, with shots even at 8-8.

At 13:33 into the second period, Dylan Larkin snagged the go-ahead goal for Team USA off of a two-on-one, assisted by Matthew Boldy. 

Both teams made it through the second period without any fights, finishing 40 minutes of play with the Americans holding a 2-1 lead. Shots were still even, with each team taking an additional 10 shots in the second period to make it 18-18.

Despite several good scoring chances in the third period, the Canadians were unable to create a tie and the U.S. held on for a second win in as many games. After Binnington left the ice for an extra attacker with two minutes left of play, Guentzel scored an empty netter to make it 3-1 for Team USA.

Canada will take on Finland next, with the game set to take place in Boston on Monday, at 1pm ET. Team USA is now assured a spot in the championship game, set to take place in Boston on Thursday at 8pm ET.

Team Canada won their first game of the 4 Nations Face-Off against Team Sweden with a score of 4-3.

The 4 Nations Face-Off is the first best-on-best tournament since the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, and you could feel the nine years of anticipation as the Canadian team took to the ice in front of a sold-out hometown crowd at the Bell Centre in Montreal. As forward Brad Marchand said in his pre-game interview: “The emotion this city brings is bar none.”

READ: Team Canada players honoured and excited to don the maple leaf for 4 Nations Face-Off

Emotions were certainly high at the pre-game ceremony featuring international hockey legends representing the four countries taking part in the competition: Teemu Selanne (Finland), Daniel Alfredsson (Sweden), Mike Richter (USA) and Mario Lemieux (Canada). Noise levels at the Bell Centre reached 109 decibels at the introduction of Lemieux, who captained Team Canada at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics, where that team ended a 50-year Olympic title drought to bring home the gold medal.

Team Canada could hardly have gotten off to a faster start after the first puck drop. Within the first minute of play, the Canadians were awarded a powerplay thanks to a high stick on Nathan Mackinnon by Swedish forward William Nylander. The Canadians pressed their advantage immediately with a goal in the first seconds of the powerplay, scored by Mackinnon and assisted by team captain Sidney Crosby and assistant captain, Connor McDavid. Canada took the 1-0 lead just 56 seconds into the game.

Team Canada’s second goal of the first period came courtesy of its third line, with veteran forward Brad Marchand scoring off a two-on-one pass from Brayden Point. Seth Jarvis picked up the secondary assist.

The first period of play came to an end with Canada up 2-0, and leading Sweden in shots 7-3.

READ: What you need to know about Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off

It was almost halfway through the second period when Swedish defenseman Jonas Brodin delivered the first goal of the game for the Swedes, sneaking a shot over the shoulder of Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington. Victor Hedman and Lucas Raymond picked up assists on the sequence.

But Canada did not go long without a response thanks to a breakout from Crosby, spinning back to pass to Mark Stone who buried the puck past Swedish goaltender Filip Gustavsson to re-establish Canada’s two goal lead.

The second period closed out with a score of 3-1 for Team Canada, and with the Canadians leading 14-12 in shots.

Team Sweden was the first to strike in the third period though, with a quick release by Adrian Kempe to bring the game back within a one goal margin. Kempe was assisted by Erik Karlsson and Mattias Ekholm.

The Swedes kept up the momentum a few minutes later. Joel Eriksson Ek pulled off a beautiful tic-tac-toe with teammates Jesper Bratt and Lucas Raymond to make it a tie game with 11 minutes left in regulation time.

Despite a number of close chances by both teams, the rest of the period remained scoreless, forcing overtime. However, Sweden took advantage of the final period to take the lead in the shots, 22-20.

But it was Canada’s Mitch Marner who was the hero of the game, scoring the 3-on-3 game winner as the Bell Centre erupted. An electric end to an electric game.

But the player of the game went to none other than Captain Canada himself, who assisted the game winning goal. The Bell Centre opened up the night chanting Lemieux’s name, but finished chanting Crosby’s.

In his post-game interview, Marner reflected on how special this goal will remain for him.

“You tell 10-year-old Mitch that he scored an overtime goal assisted by Sidney Crosby, a guy he’s looked up to since day one…it’s pretty crazy.”

Yes, best-on-best hockey is so back.

Team Canada will be back in action on Saturday night against their long-time rival, Team USA. The game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m ET.

READ: Team Canada roster for 4 Nations Face-Off offers potential preview for 2026 Olympics

The Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 Olympic Winter Games marked the first time that Italy had ever played the role of Olympic host, four years before the summer Games of Rome 1960 and half a century before Canadian speed skater Cindy Klassen was the star of the show with her five medals at Turin 2006.

As we look forward to watching Team Canada athletes fulfill their Olympic dreams at Milano Cortina 2026, let’s take a quick look back to 70 years ago and how much has changed on the Winter Olympic scene.

Bigger and More Balanced

In 1956, the small resort town of Cortina (home to around 6000 people) could host the Olympic Winter Games all on its own. Not so in 2026. The Games have grown so much that events will be spread across several clusters in northern Italy, including Milan, which is about a 400-kilometre drive west of Cortina.

A quick look at these numbers gives a glimpse at how big the Winter Olympics have gotten.

Milano Cortina 2026 will be the most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games to date, with 54 men’s events and 50 women’s events as well as 12 mixed events. It is expected that 47 per cent of participating athletes will be women. Comparatively, women comprised just 16.3 per cent of competitors at Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956.

The eight sports on the 1956 program were alpine skiing, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and long track speed skating. In 2026, the program will also include biathlon, curling, freestyle skiing, luge, short track speed skating, skeleton, snowboard, and ski mountaineering, with the latter making its Olympic debut.  

READ: Ski Mountaineering 101: What you need to know about the new winter Olympic sport

In 1956, only alpine skiing, figure skating, and cross-country skiing included women’s events. In 2026, the only sport in which women will not compete is Nordic combined.

Team Canada’s Increased Impact

With the growth of the Olympic program, Canada has grown into a powerhouse country at the Winter Games—both in the number of athletes who can call themselves Olympians and the number of medals that go on Team Canada’s tally.  

At each of the last four Olympic Winter Games, Team Canada has included more than 200 athletes—more than five times the number who wore the maple leaf at Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956.

Since Turin 2006, Team Canada has won at least 24 medals at each Olympic Winter Games. It was a much different story in 1956 when Canadian athletes won just three winter Olympic medals, but all were notable for their own reasons.

Figure skaters Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden led the way with their silver in the pairs event. They were pioneers of elements we now expect pairs to perform, such as twist lifts, overhead lasso lifts, and throw jumps. While European critics claimed that overhead lifts were not mentioned in the rulebook and were therefore illegal, Dafoe and Bowden received first place marks from four of the nine judges. Their skills led to the rules for the sport being revised in 1959. Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 marked the last time that an Olympic figure skating competition was held outdoors.

Lucile Wheeler became Canada’s first ever Olympic medallist in alpine skiing when she won bronze in the women’s downhill. That also made her the first North American to win an Olympic downhill medal.

Both of those events featured Canadians who would go on to win Olympic gold four years later. Just 17 in her Olympic debut, Anne Heggtveit built on her experience to win the women’s slalom at Squaw Valley 1960. Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul followed up their sixth-place finish in Cortina with four straight world pairs titles as well as the next Olympic title.

Canada, represented by the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchman, won bronze in hockey. A recognizable last name from that roster is Brodeur. Goaltender Denis Brodeur went on to father goaltending great Martin Brodeur, who won gold at Salt Lake City 2002 and Vancouver 2010.

Fun Facts and International Intrigue

Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 made history as the first Olympic Winter Games to be televised live, with broadcasts reaching multiple European countries.

They were just the second Olympic Winter Games to be preceded by a torch relay. The flame was lit at the Capitoline, one of Rome’s seven hills, and sent on a five-day journey to Cortina via Venice. The torch relay for Milano Cortina 2026 will last 63 days after the flame is lit at Olympia in Greece in November 2025.

The star athlete of Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 was Austrian Toni Sailer, who won all three men’s alpine skiing events by large margins. Austria won nine of the 18 medals awarded in alpine skiing, accounting for all but two of the country’s podium finishes.

There was a major innovation in ski jumping as Finnish athletes introduced a new aerodynamic style. They placed their arms against their sides during their flight, rather than reaching forward in front of their heads. It helped two of them—Antti Hyvärinen and Aulis Kallakorpi—win gold and silver.

READ: Everything you need to know about Milano Cortina 2026

Venues Re-Visited

There are only three venues in Cortina that will be used during the 2026 Winter Olympics, but two of those will be hosting Olympic events for the second time.

What will be the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium was known in 1956 as the Cortina Ice Stadium. It was the site of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as the figure skating and hockey competitions. 

The Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre, which will host women’s alpine events in 2026, was the primary alpine skiing venue for both women and men in 1956.

In 2026, the sliding sports of bobsleigh, skeleton, and luge are also planned to take place in Cortina. The Cortina Sliding Centre is currently under construction at the location that previously housed the Pista olimpica Eugenio Monti. Considered by many to be the greatest bobsleigh pilot ever, Monti won two silver medals during Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956, racing on the track that would be named for him after he won four more Olympic medals, including a pair of gold in 1968.

A lot of information has been published on Olympic.ca about the upcoming Games—but in this article, we’ve gathered all of those links in one place. 

Here’s everything you need to know about Milano Cortina 2026 to help keep you informed as Team Canada athletes continue their journey towards the Games that will officially open on February 6, 2026 and run for 16 days.

Where will the Games take place?

Italy will host the XXV Olympic Winter Games, primarily in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. This is the fourth time that Italy will host the Olympic Games, having previously hosted Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 (winter), Rome 1960 (summer), and Turin 2006 (winter).

Events will take place across several regions of northern Italy. You can check out our venue guides to see where Team Canada will be competing:

Milano Cortina 2026 Venue Guide: Veneta

Milano Cortina 2026 Venue Guide: Trentino-Alto Adige

Milano Cortina 2026 Venue Guide: Lombardia

What sports will be contested at Milano Cortina 2026?

There are 16 sport disciplines that will be contested at Milano Cortina 2026:

• Alpine Skiing
• Biathlon
• Bobsleigh
• Cross-Country Skiing
• Curling
• Figure Skating
• Freestyle Skiing
• Ice Hockey
• Long Track Speed Skating
• Luge
• Nordic Combined
• Short Track Speed Skating
• Skeleton
• Ski Jumping
• Ski Mountaineering
• Snowboarding 

Within these sport disciplines, there will be 116 events (details for each sport are in the links above). Ski mountaineering will make its Olympic debut as the newest addition to the Olympic programme.

READ: Ski Mountaineering 101: What you need to know about the new winter Olympic sport

How can Team Canada athletes qualify for Milano Cortina 2026?

Qualification pathways for each sport can look a little different, and can be a bit confusing. We’ve done our best to break down these pathways, including when qualification events are taking place and how many quota spots are available: Team Canada Qualification Pathways.

Who is qualified for Team Canada for Milano Cortina 2026?

Approximately 2900 athletes will compete at the upcoming Games—but how many of them will rep the maple leaf? If you’re not as interested in the how, and just want to get to the who, make sure to keep tabs on this page: Team Canada Qualification Tracker for Milano Cortina 2026.

The tracker will be updated as more and more sports qualify quota spots for the Games. Athlete names will be added once they earn the nominations for those quota spots. Spoiler alert, as of right now, the only quotas that are locked in are for men’s and women’s hockey.

What is the plan for the 2026 Olympic torch relay?

The Olympic flame will begin its journey from Olympia, Greece on November 26, 2025 and arrive at San Siro Stadium on February 6, 2026 for the Opening Ceremony of Milano Cortina 2026. In between, the flame will travel throughout Italy, traversing 12,000 kilometres and crossing all 110 provinces, while passing between the hands of more than 10,000 torch bearers. Read up on some of the highlights from the plan for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic torch relay. 

If you want to learn more about the history and tradition of the Olympic torch relay, check out our FAQ on the Olympic flame and Olympic torch relay.

What is the look and feel of Milano Cortina 2026?

The look and feel of Milano Cortina 2026 is all about vibes. These vibes are touchstone ideas that represent both Italian culture and the spirit of the Olympic Games, and include concepts like energy, passion, creativity, and style. The colours and designs will be featured across all Olympic venues, providing a visual connection. 

Who are the mascots for Milano Cortina 2026? 

Upping the cuteness factor at the Games will be the Milano Cortina 2026 mascots, Tina (Olympic mascot) and Milo (Paralympic mascot). The pair are a brother and sister duo of Italian stoats (we didn’t know what a stoat was until now either—think ferret!). They are joined by their six small flower friends, known as “the Flo.”

To get up to speed on all of the adorableness that is Tina and Milo, check out their backstory here: Meet Tina and Milo, the mascots for Milano Cortina 2026.

How do I buy tickets for Milano Cortina 2026?

Want to see Team Canada in person? While registration has closed for the draw that will determine ticket purchasing times in the first phase of sales, fear not. Open ticket sales will take place in April 2025. We’ve amalgamated everything that you need to know about ticket sales, including information about hospitality packages, here: How to buy tickets for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

NHL players were unable to play at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Games, a factor that greatly altered the field of competition of the Olympic men’s hockey tournament.

In addition to releasing players to represent their countries at the upcoming Olympic Games, the NHL announced plans for its own international tournament—the 4 Nations Face-Off—featuring the hockey powerhouse nations of Canada, Sweden, Finland, and the USA. The tournament will be held in place of the NHL’s annual All-Star Game this year, and will take place February 12-20, 2025 in Montreal and Boston.

Due to the absence of NHL players from the last two Olympic cycles, the majority of players in the 4 Nations Face-Off do not have Olympic experience (although many have been able to don a Team Canada jersey for the IIHF World Junior Championship and/or IIHF World Championship). As such, the 4 Nations Face-Off is set to offer an exciting potential preview of national rosters for Milano Cortina 2026, and a chance for players to gel with potential Olympic teammates.

So, here’s everything you need to know about the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Who can play at the 4 Nations Face-Off?

The tournament will feature NHL players from Canada, Sweden, Finland, and the USA. Players must be under an NHL contract for the 2024-25 season and on an NHL roster as of December 2, 2024 to be eligible.

At the time of the tournament’s announcement, all of these nations were ranked in the IIHF’s top six for men’s hockey, with Canada in first, Finland in second, the USA in fourth and Sweden in sixth. Russia (ranked third at the time) was excluded from the tournament as the country was banned by the IIHF as a sanction against the war in Ukraine. Germany, ranked fifth at the time of the announcement, did not have enough active NHL players to field a roster. Czechia, eighth in the IIHF rankings at the time, did have enough NHL players to field a roster, but was not included.

The current world rankings (as of May 2024) rank Canada in first, followed by Russia, Finland, Czechia, Switzerland, USA, and then Sweden, making Czechia’s absence from the 4 Nations perhaps more notable.

With the absence of Czechia and Russia, there may be some hesitation to call the tournament a true best-on-best test, however, it is the first international tournament that will feature top NHL talent since the World Cup of Hockey in 2016.

Who is on Team Canada for the 4 Nations Face-Off?

Six players were announced as the headliners of Team Canada in June 2024 to create buzz around the tournament. Those players included Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Brayden Point, and Brad Marchand. The rest of the 23-man roster was announced in December 2024 (see below for full roster).

READ: Team Canada roster for 4 Nations Face-Off offers potential preview for 2026 Olympics

Seventeen of the players have represented Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship and 19 have donned the maple leaf for the IIHF World Championship. Members of the roster have won a combined 20 Stanley Cups.

Hockey Canada has amalgamated a fun stats round up of Team Canada by the numbers.

What is the significance of the 4 Nations Face-Off for the Olympic Games?

The tournament is expected to offer a preliminary glance at what may be similar rosters for the top teams headed to Milano Cortina 2026—or it could show those teams where they might like to make changes. 

Team Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off coach, Jon Cooper, has also been tapped to lead the Canadian men’s Olympic team, so the leadership of Team Canada will be consistent across both tournaments. Cooper is the longest-tenured active head coach in the NHL, and currently coaches the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Despite the absence of NHL players from the last two Olympic cycles, Team Canada does have veteran Olympic experience to rely on, most notably double Olympic gold medallist Sidney Crosby. The now-37-year-old scored the famous “golden goal” to give Canada the victory at home during Vancouver 2010, and then went on to captain Team Canada to gold at Sochi 2014. Drew Doughty, 35, is the other veteran Olympian on the 4 Nations squad, also nabbing double gold with Team Canada at Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014. Doughty was a late addition to the team after the withdrawal of defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, who also competed at Sochi 2014.

Canada is the most successful country in men’s Olympic ice hockey with 16 medals, including nine gold. At the two recent Olympic Games without NHL players, Canada still managed to snag a bronze medal at PyeongChang 2018, but placed sixth at Beijing 2022.

Team Canada’s 4 Nations rivals are also short on Olympic veterans. Team USA will feature only one Olympian. Counter to Team Canada’s situation, the only American Olympian on the roster is their youngest player, 22-year-old Brock Faber, who played at Beijing 2022 before entering the NHL. 

Finland won gold at Beijing 2022—but no members of that Olympic roster currently play in the NHL. The Swedish roster features three Olympians: defensemen Rasmus Dahlin (PyeongChang 2018, at age 17, before entering NHL) and Erik Karlsson (Sochi 2014), as well as forward Gustav Nyquist (Sochi 2014).

Team Canada may be particularly eager to get a sense of Team Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off, as the two countries are currently slotted to play in Group A for the preliminary stage of the Olympic tournament, alongside Switzerland and Italy. Group B is set to  feature Finland, Germany, Czechia, and Denmark, while Group C currently includes Russia, Slovakia, Latvia, and the United States. The composition of the groups would change, however, if Russia is not permitted to compete at Milano Cortina 2026 and their spot in the tournament is taken by France.

What is the tournament structure of the 4 Nations Face-Off?

The tournament will start with a round robin, with each team playing three games. Those will lead to a one-game final for the top two teams. During the round robin stage, following a tie at regulation, teams will play 3-on-3 sudden death for 10 minutes, followed by a three-round shootout, if necessary. During the final, a tie after regulation time will be followed by 5-on-5 sudden death in 20-minute periods until a goal is scored.

How do I watch the 4 Nations Face-off?

Games will be available in Canada on Sportsnet. Tickets are available on nhl.com.

Team Canada 4 Nations Face-Off Roster:

Forwards
Sam Bennett
Anthony Cirelli
Sidney Crosby
Brandon Hagel
Seth Jarvis
Travis Konecny
Nathan MacKinnon
Brad Marchand
Mitch Marner
Connor McDavid
Brayden Point
Sam Reinhart
Mark Stone

Defense
Drew Doughty
Cale Makar
Josh Morrissey
Colton Parayko
Travis Sanheim
Shea Theodore
Devon Toews

Goaltenders
Jordan Binnington
Adin Hill
Sam Montembeault