{"id":457653,"date":"2026-02-09T04:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T04:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/457653\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T04:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T04:59:11","slug":"nhl-players-arrive-in-milan-returning-to-the-winter-olympics-after-a-12-year-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/457653\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL players arrive in Milan, returning to the Winter Olympics after a 12-year absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 Lukas Dostal was in a rush to get to the Olympics<\/a>. Earlier this week, the Czech goaltender became the first NHL player to take the ice for practice with his national team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would I do in Anaheim, shoot the puck to the boards and try to stop it myself? It probably wouldn\u2019t really work,\u201d Dostal said.<\/p>\n

He is no longer alone, as the rest of the players from the best hockey league in the world arrived in Milan on Sunday. Fresh off flying from New York\u2019s John F. Kennedy International Airport, the top contenders from the U.S. and Canada to Sweden, Finland and Czechia all took the ice for their first practices at the Olympics.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe United States men’s ice hockey team gathers on the ice during practice at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026.(Carolyn Kaster | AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster))<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy to think about now we\u2019re here,\u201d said Auston Matthews, who was named U.S. captain after practice. \u201cIt definitely hits you once you touch down and get to the Olympic village and get settled in, just how special and cool it is to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dostal and about a dozen others arranged transportation to get to Italy a couple of days earlier, including Canada\u2019s Connor McDavid, Germany\u2019s Leon Draisaitl, Czechia\u2019s David Pastrnak and a quartet of Americans.<\/p>\n

Charlie McAvoy, Zach Werenski, Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman marched in the opening ceremony with the rest of the U.S. delegation at San Siro stadium, as did Switzerland\u2019s Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Jonas Siegenthaler. Swayman called taking part \u201can out of body experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Draisaitl and Pastrnak were among the seven men\u2019s hockey players who served as their nation\u2019s flag bearer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a little boy, your biggest dream is playing in the Olympic Games,\u201d said Switzerland\u2019s Nino Niederreiter, who was his country\u2019s flag bearer. \u201cBeing able to go out there and carry the flag was definitely something you\u2019ll never forget and cherish forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost all the players and coaches experiencing the newly built arena gave it rave reviews, though the joy of finally getting to the Olympics almost certainly contributed to that rosy first impression.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat, honestly,\u201d Sweden forward Mika Zibanejad said. \u201cI don\u2019t have anything negative to say. I\u2019ve been just so stoked to be able to be part of Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason for that. This is the first Olympics with NHL players<\/a> in a dozen years, dating to Sochi in 2014, after the league opted not to participate in 2018 and pandemic-related scheduling issues caused an eleventh-hour change of plans in 2022.<\/p>\n

That gap means an entire generation of stars<\/a>, including McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel, have never represented their country on this international stage. This is the first so-called best-on-best tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, but even that had a couple of made-up teams \u2014 North Americans 23-and-under and then Europeans from various countries not included \u2014 to keep McDavid and MacKinnon from playing with two-time gold medalists Sidney Crosby, Drew Doughty and others.<\/p>\n

The talk about doing so became reality skating on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cLanding today and kind of going through the whole experience, getting checked into the village, it definitely feels real now,\u201d Eichel said. \u201cI think we\u2019re all really excited to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following weeks, if not months, of concerns about the quality of the ice<\/a>, it was clear the surface wasn\u2019t perfect. But it\u2019ll more than do given the circumstances.<\/p>\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 U.S. coach Mike Sullivan said. \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<\/p>\n

Canada was the final team to practice, going on just after 7 p.m. local time, and the thrill had not worn off for anyone yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying with Connor McDavid is a thrill, walking into the athletes\u2019 village is a thrill, meeting other athletes and hanging out is a thrill, putting on this jersey is a thrill,\u201d said winger Tom Wilson, who skated on the top line with McDavid and 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini. \u201cThis whole experience is a thrill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Games begin Wednesday, and the U.S. and Canada open the tournament Thursday, so teams have a little bit of time to coalesce on and off the ice. But first, all the travel means the need for some rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like it\u2019s been a long day,\u201d U.S. forward Jack Hughes said. \u201dReally exciting to finally get over here and just be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Winter Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN (AP) \u2014 Lukas Dostal was in a rush to get to the Olympics. Earlier this week, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,6755,658,3,385,99,21,19,22,20,25,24,58926],"class_list":{"0":"post-457653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-milan","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa","20":"tag-winter-olympics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}