{"id":468146,"date":"2026-02-11T14:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/468146\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T14:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:02:09","slug":"nhl-returns-to-winter-olympics-in-milan-cortina-after-controversial-buildup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/468146\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL returns to Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina after controversial buildup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The superstars of the NHL will return to Winter Olympic<\/a> action later on Wednesday, bringing with them thousands of fans from across the world, but it\u2019s been far from a smooth buildup<\/a> to the Games.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s been 12 years since the NHL last featured at the Olympics \u2013 the league opted out of the 2022 Games because of the pandemic and decided against allowing players to compete at the 2018 edition, saying the competition would disrupt the hockey season.\n <\/p>\n

\n Now, though, they are not only competing, but they\u2019re coming in droves \u2013 each of the 32 NHL<\/a> teams will have at least one representative at the Games.\n <\/p>\n

\n The excitement in Milan is palpable then, with the men\u2019s tournament starting with Slovakia taking on Finland on Wednesday, before Team USA gets its campaign underway against Latvia on Thursday.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be extremely exciting. We\u2019re very excited they are coming back,\u201d IOC Sports Director Pierre Ducrey told<\/a> reporters last month.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cTwelve years \u2013 it was a lot of work from a lot of people to make sure this happens.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Ducrey\u2019s words perhaps underplay the amount of work it took from all sides to ensure the NHL players would be present.\n <\/p>\n

\n Construction delays and concerns about the safety of the ice at Milan\u2019s Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena and secondary Rho facility had drawn headlines for weeks last year. It got to the point where NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly warned that the league would not send its players if there were any safety concerns.\n <\/p>\n

\n It resulted in the NHL sending its own experts to trial events at the venues in January, which, to everyone\u2019s relief, went well. The venues may not be perfect, but they are fit to host the world\u2019s best players and their fans.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe ice was a little bit beat up when we were practicing today, but there have been a lot of teams on it,\u201d Team USA\u2019s coach Mike Sullivan told<\/a> reporters after the team\u2019s first practice sessions this weekend.\n <\/p>\n

\"JT<\/p>\n

\n \u201cAt the end of the day, both teams got to play on the same surface, so we\u2019re thrilled to be here, and we love every minute of it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Team USA has not won the men\u2019s Olympic gold medal since the \u201cMiracle on Ice<\/a>\u201d in 1980, and a whole generation of stars has so far missed out on the opportunity to play at an Olympics during the NHL\u2019s 12-year absence.\n <\/p>\n

\n It means there is an element of pressure for Team USA, which heads into Milan Cortina as perhaps the team most likely to topple favorite Canada.\n <\/p>\n

\n History, though, proves the Canadians will be tough to beat \u2013 they won gold in the last two Winter Olympics that involved NHL players and will once again boast a packed roster.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cPlaying for Team Canada over the years, that\u2019s something you learn is part of it, that expectation and that responsibility,\u201d Pittsburgh Penguins and Canada star Sidney Crosby said<\/a> before the competition started.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe understand that, we have high expectations ourselves, and you\u2019ve got to go out there and play and do all the things that are necessary to try to win. You can\u2019t think too far ahead, but we understand that\u2019s the expectation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Twelve nations will compete for medals in Milan Cortina, organized into three groups of four.\n <\/p>\n

\n The tournament begins with a three-game round-robin stage. The three group winners and the best overall runner-up advance to the quarterfinals.\n <\/p>\n

\n The other eight nations are ranked 5-12 based on points and must compete in a single-game qualification match to move on.\n <\/p>\n

\n Once the quarterfinal field is set, the competition shifts to a traditional knockout format, ending with the final on February 22.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The superstars of the NHL will return to Winter Olympic action later on Wednesday, bringing with them thousands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-468146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}