The start of men’s ice hockey at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games is just two days away. When the men take the ice for men’s ice hockey in Milano Cortina, there will be nine members of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization (eight players and a head coach) who will take the ice and represent their respective countries, and for most of them this will be their first time having the opportunity to represent their countries at the Olympic games. The Lightning originally had ten players selected to Olympic rosters, however, due to injury two had to pull out.
For left winger Wojciech Stachowiak (Team Germany); left winger Brandon Hagel (Team Canada); defenseman Erik Cernak (Team Slovakia); center Jake Guentzel (Team USA), and defenseman J.J. Moser (Team Switzerland), this is their first olympic session and their first time representing their countries.
Right winger Oliver Bjorkstrand (Team Denmark) has been selected for the Olympics for a second time, however this will be his first participation since NHL ultimately did not send players to 2022 Olympic Games in Bejing.
For right wing forward Pontus Holmberg (representing Team Sweden) this will be the second Olympic Games he will be participating in. He represented Sweden in 2022 in which he appeared in six games, recording two assists during the tournament.
Defenseman Victor Hedman is the ninth member of the Lightning who is in Milano Cortina and he is representing Team Sweden. For Hedman, this is his third selection (selected to Team Sweden in 2014 in Sochi Russia & Bejing in 2022), however this will the first games he will have participated in as he missed out due to the NHL not sending players those years to the Olympics.
Lightning head coach, Jon Cooper is also over in Milano Cortina representing as the head coach of Team Canada. He was supposed to have Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli joining him as players for Team Canada, however injury has prevented them from participating.
Men’s ice hockey kicks off on Wednesday at 10:40 with the Men’s Prelim. Rounds with Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, and Italy all set to begin their Olympic Quests. Cernak (Slovakia), Holmberg (Sweden), and Holmberg (Sweden) will all be in action on Wednesday for the start of the prelims.
On Thursday the remainder of the teams open their preliminary rounds, with the other six members of the Lightning taking the ice to open their 2026 campaigns.
Tom Urtz of FanSided recently broke down the Olympic Hockey Power Rankings and Olympic Teams with the most NHL players on them and based on these rankings, USA and Canada are the favorites to take the Olympic win. However, per Urtz, Czechia, Finland, and Sweden are also heavy contenders to make a run at the podium. The Lightning have a member of their organization represented on each of these teams except Finland and Czechia, giving each of Tampa’s nine players a chance to win an Olympic medal.