Local athletes on the world stage

By Blake Meyers, Sports Reporter

February 11, 2026

(Credit to the International Olympic Committee and Milano Cortina 2026)

The 2026 Olympics are set to take place in Milan and Cortina, Italy. 206 countries are representing their flags and will be competing for gold. 16 men’s and women’s events will take place, which is more than any previous Winter Olympics. The US Olympic Team will be competing in all 16 events with a chance to add on to their 114 gold medals in their history at the Winter Olympic Games. After their eight gold medals at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, they look to expand and break their record of 12 gold medals at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

There are some notable athletes from the Midwest representing Team USA in hockey, alpine skiing, nordic skiing, curling, speed skating, biathlon, luge, and bobsled.

Mens Hockey:
Brock Faber-Returning from 2022 (Maple Grove MN) who is currently playing for the Minnesota Wild.
Jake Guentzel (Woodbury MN) who is currently playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Jackson Lacombe (Eden Prairie MN) who is currently playing for the Anaheim Ducks.
Brock Nelson (Warroad MN) who is currently playing for the Colorado Avalanche.
Jake Ottengier (Lakeville MN) who is currently playing for the Dallas Stars.

Brock Faber during the 2022 Beijing Winter games. (Credit to Brock Faber on Instagram: @brockfaber14)

USA Men’s hockey schedule
TV: NBC, USA Network, CNBC and NBCSN
Streaming: Peacock and NBCOlympics.com

Preliminary vs. Latvia: Thursday, Feb. 12, 2:10 p.m. CST
Preliminary vs. Denmark: Saturday, Feb. 14, 2:10 p.m. CST
Preliminary vs. Germany: Sunday, Feb. 15, 2:10 p.m. CST
Playoff: Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2:10 p.m. CST
Quarterfinal: Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2:10 p.m. CST
Semifinal: Friday, Feb. 20, 2:10 p.m. CST
Bronze medal game: Saturday, Feb. 21, 1:10 p.m. CST
Gold medal game: Sunday, Feb. 22, 7:10 a.m. CST

USA men’s hockey will look for a chance to bring home a medal after losing 3-2 in the quarterfinals against Slovakia in the shootout during the 2022 winter games. This will be the first time since 2014 that the USA men’s team will have NHL players on their roster. During the 2014 games, Team Canada took home gold while the United States took 4th. This will be another opportunity for the world to see the best of the best play for their respective countries following the Four Nations Faceoff in February of 2025.

Women’s Hockey:

Taylor Heise (Lake City MN) who is currently playing for the Minnesota Frost.
Lee Stecklein (Roseville MN) who is currently playing for the Minnesota Frost.
Kelley Pannek (Plymouth MN) who is currently playing for the Minnesota Frost.
Grace Zumwinkle (Excelsior MN) who is currently playing for the Minnesota Frost.
Taylor Heise (Lake City MN) who is currently playing for the Minnesota Frost.
Rory Guilday (Chanhassen MN) who is currently playing for the Ottawa Charge.

Women’s Hockey players from Wisconsin:
Hilary Knight (University of Wisconsin Alumni)
Kirsten Sims (Currently playing at the University of Wisconsin)
Laila Edwards (Currently playing at the University of Wisconsin)
Ava McNaughton (Currently playing at the University of Wisconsin)
Britta Curl-Salemme (Currently playing at the University of Wisconsin)
Caroline Harvey (Currently playing at the University of Wisconsin)

Taylor Heise lifting the IIHF World Junior trophy during the 2023 games in Ontario, Canada. (Credit to Dan Hamilton, USA Today)

USA Women’s hockey schedule:
TV: NBC, USA Network, CNBC and NBCSN
Streaming: Peacock and NBCOlympics.com

Preliminary vs. Czechia: Thursday, Feb. 5, 9:40 a.m. CST
Preliminary vs. Finland: Saturday, Feb. 7, 9:40 a.m. CST
Preliminary vs. Switzerland: Monday, Feb. 9, 1:40 p.m. CST
Preliminary vs. Canada: Tuesday, Feb. 10, 1:10 p.m. CST
Quarterfinal: Friday, Feb. 13, 2:10 p.m. CST
Semifinal: Monday, Feb. 16, 9:40 a.m. CST
Bronze medal game: Thursday, Feb. 19, 7:40 a.m. CST
Gold medal game: Thursday, Feb. 19, 12:10 p.m. CST

Team USA Women’s Hockey Captain and Assistant captains for this year’s winter Olympics. Left to right: Megan Keller, Hilary Knight, Alex Carpenter
(Credit to USA Hockey on Instagram: @usahockey)

The 2026 games will have Team USA women’s hockey looking for another opportunity to medal in the Winter Games. After coming up short against Team Canada in 2022, losing 3-2 in the gold medal game, Team USA will be bringing 23 players to Milan. All of these athletes have multiple years of NCAA experience. This women’s team will also have 11 returning from the 2022 games.

More athletes to look for:

Alpine Skiing:
Lindsey Vonn (Burnsville MN)
Paula Moltzan (Prior Lake MN)

Nordic Skiing:
Jessie Diggins (Afton MN)

Curling:
Cory Theisse Christensen (Duluth MN)
Speedskating:
Jordan Stolz (Kewaskum WI)

Biathlon:
Deedra Irwin (Pulaski WI)
Paul Schommer (Appleton WI)
Margie Freed (Apple Valley MN)

Luge:
Marcus Mueller (Brookfield WI)

Bobsled:
Jadin O’Brien (Pewaukee WI)