MILAN – Much as they relish life in the Athletes Village at the 2026 Winter Olympics, the American men’s hockey players are ready for their games to begin.
The U.S. starts the preliminary round on Feb. 12 against Group C cohort Latvia, four days after arriving in Italy and after three practices. There are two more prelim games, then the stakes grow.
‘We’ve gotten adjusted and we’ve had some fun and hung around the village, but now it’s time to play, and that’s why we’re here,’ Red Wings center Dylan Larkin said after Wednesday’s practice at Santaguilia Ice Hockey Arena. ‘With the guys we have and the camaraderie and the team talk, I think it’s easy for us to flip it over and get right into winning mode, because that’s what we’re here for.’
Matthew Tkachuk predicted the hockey, ‘is going to be intense. Not a lot of ice. It’s going to make for some great physical, fast and competitive hockey.’
The Americans held their most intense practice since arriving on a charter last Sunday, spending about half of the hour-long practice on special teams.
‘You can see the guys are excited to play,’ coach Mike Sullivan said. ‘They’re excited to get started here and compete. We were real happy with just the level of intensity out there. We’re going to do our best to try to play the game that sets us up for success. We think we have size, we think we have speed, we think we have skill, and we’re going to try to play that game.’
Village Life
Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong defended the decision to have his players move to hotel rooms rather than stay in the village. ‘The players have always had a hotel room in all the Olympics prior to this, in Vancouver and Sochi,’ he said. ‘This is no different than the tournaments we had before. We just want to give our players that option to stay where they’re most comfortable to prepare for the games.’
The Americans are sounding a different note. Asked if there were hotel rooms available for players, U.S. men’s GM Bill Guerin said, ‘no. These guys are the best of the best. They’re professionals. They know exactly what they want and what they need. And from everything that I hear from the guys, they’re very comfortable in the village. They like being together. I think it’s great. It’s good for their camaraderie and good for their chemistry. It’s what they want. It’s not what I want or Mike want. It’s what they want and what they need to perform at their highest. And if they feel that’s it, then that’s it.’
Players have joked about the intimate quarters – ‘we’re sleeping six inches apart,’ Jake Oettinger said of he and roommate Jeremy Swayman – but consider it part of being at the Olympics.
‘We just all had that expectation of of being there and that’s how USA Hockey always has done it,’ Brady Tkachuk said. ‘For us it’s been one of the highlights – we’re all on one floor right next to each other so you just go out in the hall ,pop into the guys’ rooms and just hang out.’
Matthew Tkachuk said earlier in the week he was giving his brother ‘a kidney shot’ at night to get him to stop snoring, but ‘I’ve been sleeping great, so my kidneys have been fine,’ Brady said. ‘I haven’t woke up sore so it’s been some great sleep.’
A team bigger than your sport
The American men spent Tuesday evening cheering on the American women in their 5-0 victory over Canada.
‘I called my wife last night and said, I have a new favorite player,’ Guerin said. ‘It’s Abbey Murphy.’
Matthew Tkachuk said, ‘Caroline Harvey is like Bobby Orr. She was the best player on the ice, and it felt like by a lot. She was incredible. I got to spend some time with her today at the USA Hockey House. What a great girl, and an unbelievable player. She was awesome.’
Being at the Olympics has offered bonding unlike anything else.
‘It’s a really unique experience on so many different levels,’ Sullivan said. ‘The guys are really enjoying the opportunity to stay in the village. They get to meet other athletes that are part of the United States team that’s over here. I think you realize that you become part of a team that’s bigger than your sport.’
Coach Snoop Dogg
Among the cooler things the team has done is meet Snoop Dogg, who is serving as a honorary coach at the Games.
‘Probably one of the few people I’ve met that’s kind of larger than life,’ Larkin said. ‘You look at him, he doesn’t even look real.’
Snoop Dogg pumped up the team with a speech, mentioning the rivalry with Canada, and in general left players awestruck and in stitches.
‘It was great,’ Matthew Tkachuk said. ‘He was awesome. We had a bunch of guys from the team in there. He was hilarious. It was a lot of fun. He had some great one-liners and just made for a hilarious 15 or 20 minutes.’
Minding the nets
Sullivan did not want to name his starting goaltender, but it’ll likely by Connor Hellebuyck, the Americans’ top guy at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. The Americans play again Saturday (against Denmark) and Sunday (against Germany), so expect Oettinger or Swayman to appear in one of those.