Who are the favorites and underdogs heading into the men's and women's 2026 Olympic ice hockey tournaments?

Matt Severance reveals his best bets for men's hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics from Milano Cortina, Italy

After suffering a devastating loss to Canada in the gold medal game four years ago, the U.S. women's hockey team is out for some revenge at the 2026 Winter Olympics. With a collection of proven Olympic veterans and rising stars, the Americans have shown through their first two games that they have the team to compete for another gold medal.

In their second game of the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Team USA took down Finland in an impressive 5-0 fashion.

Evan Bates and Madison Chock closed today's events with a boost to Team USA's score, earning the team 10 points in their ice dance free dance event. As of now, the Japanese figure skating team ranks second with 39 points, and Italy trails closely behind with 37 points.

Olympian and U.S. ice hockey captain Hilary Knight tied the record for the most career Olympic goals on Saturday, making team history and cementing the U.S.'s 5-0 win over Finland.

The 2026 Olympic men's hockey tournament officially begins on Wednesday, Feb. 11, with the preliminary rounds, and it's shaping up to be an intense run of games between 12 teams. What makes the 2026 Olympics stand of is that it brings the return of NHL players,

The U.S. kept its foot on the gas in the middle stanza, with Joy Dunne and Hayley Scamuura scoring just over a minute apart to widen the gap. There was an instance where it looked like Czechia was going to fight back, as Barbora Jurickova scored on a breakaway after serving a penalty to make it 3-1. However, that was as close as the game got.

Here's what to know about Thursday's slate of women's ice hockey games at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, including how to watch information.

Team Finland and Team Switzerland have had players affected by norovirus