GAME DAY | Team USA Faces Czechia to Open 2026 Olympic Winter Games

By USA Hockey, 02/05/26, 5:30AM EST

Puck drop set for 10:40 a.m. ET on USA Network

MILAN - The U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team opens its 2026 Olympic Winter Games campaign with its first preliminary round contest against Czechia on Thursday (Feb. 5).

Puck drop is scheduled for 4:40 p.m. CET (10:40 a.m. ET) and can be viewed live on USA Network or streaming on Peacock.

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2026 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES

The U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team is one of 10 teams competing at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games from February 6-22 in Milan, Italy.

The tournament features ten teams divided into two groups of five. Team USA is competing in Group A alongside, Canada, Czechia, Switzerland and Finland. Group B includes Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Sweden. Each group will play a single round-robin series before the playoff round.

TODAY'S MATCH UP

Today's game marks the opening game of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games for Team USA. The squad will skate in four preliminary round games before the playoff round starts on February 13.

ALL TIME AGAINST CZECHIA

Today marks just the second all-time meeting between the U.S. and Czechia at the Olympics, with the U.S. holding a 1-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) advantage. The two teams have never met in a preliminary round game at the Olympics before.

Team USA Prepared For The Grand Stage

Knight Named Captain Of Team USA

LAST TIME AGAINST CZECHIA

The last, and only time, these two teams met at the Olympics was February 11, 2022 in the quarterfinal round in Beijing. After falling behind 1-0 in the second period, the U.S. rattled off four unanswered goals to advance to the semifinals by the score of 4-1.

WORLD NO. 1

Team USA enters the Olympics ranked No. 1 by the International Ice Hockey Federation and the top overall seed in the tournament. The U.S. reclaimed the first spot following a gold medal at the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship.

EDWARDS MAKES HISTORY

Defender Laila Edwards becomes the first black woman to represent the United States in women's hockey at the Olympic Winter Games when she takes the ice today against Czechia. She'd previously made history as the first black woman to skate for the U.S. Women's National Team at an international event when she represented the U.S. at the 2024 IIHF Women's World Championship.