Olympic Hockey Odds & Favorites: First Six Revealed, Schedule Set for Italy Games

With the first six revealed and the schedule set, Canada remain the Olympic hockey odds favorites to win the gold medal, trading just in front of Team USA.
Olympic Hockey Odds & Favorites: Which Nation Will Win Gold at 2026 Winter Olympics?
Pictured: Team Canada forward Connor McDavid celebrates scoring in overtime to win against Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Photo by Brian Fluharty via Imagn Images

With the schedule released, Canada remains the Olympic hockey odds favorite over Team USA, Sweden, and Finland. 

Let's dive into the odds while checking out notable contests on the schedule. The other development saw each team reveal its first six Winter Olympic Games players for Milano Cortina in February. 

We've asked AI to weigh in with its winner prediction. 

๐Ÿ’ Olympic hockey odds 2026

Here are the latest 2026 Olympic hockey odds from FanDuel:

Team Odds Implied probability Profit ($10 bet)
Canada +150 40% $15
USA +200 33.33% $20
Sweden  +550 15.38% $55
Finland  +750 11.76% $75
Czechia  +1400 6.25% $140
Switzerland  +3500 1.96% $500
Slovakia  +7000 1.96% $500
Germany  +7000 1.96% $500
Latvia  +14000 0.71% $1,400
Denmark +14000 0.71% $1,400
France  +25000 0.40% $2,500
Italy +25000 0.40% $2,500

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๐Ÿค– 2026 Olympic hockey AI prediction 

๐Ÿฅ‡ Gold Medal: Canada ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ 

Why?

  • Elite core: Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Sidney Crosby represent a generational mix of speed, vision, leadership, and experience.
  • Depth & versatility: Canada has an unmatched pool of NHL talent. Even their fourth line could contain All-Stars like Brayden Point or Mark Stone.
  • Chemistry & redemption: After losing the 2022 Olympics without NHL participation, Canada is on a revenge tour, as seen in the 4 Nations Face-Off win over the USA. The synergy among McDavid, Marner, and MacKinnon was elite.

๐Ÿ‘€ Olympic roster "First Six" reveal

Teams participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics each unveiled six players who will represent their country. Let's take a look at who's suiting up for each country so far:

Canada

Player Position
Sidney Crosby F
Nathan MacKinnon F
Cale Makar D
Connor McDavid F
Brayden Point F
Sam Reinhart F

Czechia

Player Position
Lukas Dostal G
Radko Gudas D
Martin Necas F
Ondrej Palat F
David Pastrnak F
Pavel Zacha F

France

Player Position
Yohann Auvitu D
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare F
Jules Boscq D
Hugo Gallet D
Jordann Perrett F
Alexandre Texier F

Switzerland

Player Position
Kevin Fiala F
Nico Hischier F
Roman Josi D
Timo Meier F
Nino Niederreiter F
Jonas Siegenthaler D

Finland

Player Position
Sebastian Aho F
Aleksander Barkov F
Miro Heiskanen D
Esa Lindell D
Mikko Rantanen F
Juuse Saros G

Italy

Player Position
Damian Clara G
Diego Kostner F
Thomas Larkin D
Daniel Mantenuto F
Tommy Purdeller F
Luca Zanatta D

Slovakia

Player Position
Erik Cernak D
Martin Fehervary D
Simon Nemec D
Martin Pospisil F
Juraj Slafkovsky F
Tomas Tatar F

Sweden

Player Position
Rasmus Dahlin D
Victor Hedman D
Adrian Kempe F
Gabriel Landeskog F
William Nylander F
Lucas Raymond F

Denmark

Player Position
Frederik Andersen G
Oliver Bjorkstrand F
Nikolaj Ehlers F
Lars Eller F
Jesper Jensen Abo D
Jonas Rondbjerg F

Germany

Player Position
Leon Draisaitl F
Philipp Grubauer G
Moritz Seider D
Nico Sturm F
Tim Stutzle F
Lukas Reiche F

Latvia

Player Position
Rodrigo Abols F
Uvis Balinskis D
Teddy Blueger F
Zemgus Girgensons F
Elvis Merzlikins G
Arturs Silovs G

USA

Player Position
Jack Eichel F
Quinn Hughes D
Auston Matthews F
Charlie McAvoy F
Brady Tkachuk F
Matthew Tkachuk F

๐Ÿ“… 2026 Winter Olympics hockey schedule

Here is the schedule for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, which will run from Feb. 11 to Feb. 22. 

Round  Dates Times 
Preliminary  Feb. 11 - Feb. 15  6:10am ET/10:40am ET/3:10pm ET/3:10pm ET
Men's qualification playoffs Feb. 17 6:10am ET/6:10am ET/10:40am ET/3:10pm ET
Men's quarterfinals  Feb. 18  6:10am ET/8:10am ET/10:40am ET/3:10pm ET
Menโ€™s semifinals Fri. Feb. 20 10:40am ET/3:10pm ET
Menโ€™s bronze Sat. Feb. 21 2:40 p.m. ET
Men's gold medal game  Sun. Feb. 22. 7:10 a.m. ET

Milano Cortina 2026 released the full schedule, including each team's group games. We've listed the front-runners' schedules below: 

๐Ÿ—“๏ธ Canada Olympic hockey schedule 

Game 1: ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Czechia vs. ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Canada, Feb. 12, 10:40 a.m. ET
Game 2: ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Canada vs. ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ Switzerland, Feb. 13, 3:10 p.m. ET
Game 3: ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Canada vs. ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท France, Feb. 15, 10:40 a.m. ET

๐Ÿ—“๏ธ USA Olympic hockey schedule 

Game 1: ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ป Latvia vs. ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ USA , Feb. 12, 3:10 p.m. ET
Game 2: ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ USA vs. ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Denmark, Feb. 14, 3:10 p.m. ET
Game 3: ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ USA vs. ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Germany , Feb. 15, 3:10 p.m. ET

๐Ÿ“ What are the 2026 Winter Olympics hockey groups? 

Group A Group B  Group C
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Canada  ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ Finland  ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ USA 
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Czechia ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Slovakia ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Germany 
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ Switzerland ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช Sweden  ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Denmark
๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท France ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Italy ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ป Latvia 

๐Ÿ“ How does the 2026 Winter Olympics hockey tournament work?

The format remains unchanged, mirroring proceedings from the previous three Olympics. 

  • Three groups of four teams start the tournament by playing each team in their group once
  • That round-robin portion will determine the seedings
  • The group winners and the highest ranked nation of the remaining teams receives a bye into the quarterfinals
  • The round-robin portion is followed by four rounds of elimination games, with the bottom eight teams participating
  • The four winners of the elimination games advance to the quarterfinals to play the four teams that previously received a bye
  • The four quarterfinals winners advance into the semifinals
  • The semifinals winner advance to the gold medal game, while the two losers meet in the bronze medal game
  • The winner of the final receives the gold medal

๐Ÿ“ How does overtime at the 2026 Winter Olympics work? 

(These rules apply to the men's and women's tournament)

Group stage (round robin):

  • If a game is tied at the end of regulation in the group stage, the teams will play a five-minute, 3-on-3 overtime period. It's sudden death, so the first team to score wins
  • If no team scores at the end of the five minutes, a shootout will decide the winner
  • Five players on each team will be selected to shoot
  • If it's still tied at the end of those five rounds, any player can shoot as many times as they want in sudden death
  • Sudden death in the shootout consists of one shot for each team. If the first team scores, the second team must score on their attempt. If they don't, the first team wins
  • If the first team doesn't score and the second team does, the second team wins

Knockout stage (playoff games, quarterfinals, semifinals):

  • If a game is tied at the end of regulation, the teams will play a 10-minute, 3-on-3 overtime period. It's sudden death, so the first team to score wins
  • If the game is still tied after overtime, the teams will move to a shootout with the same rules as the group stage

Bronze and gold medal game

  • If a game is tied at the end of regulation, the teams will play a 20-minute, 3-on-3 overtime period. It's sudden death, so the first team to score wins
  • If the game is tied after the initial 20-minute overtime, the teams will keep playing until somebody scores
  • There is no shootout
  • Between each period, there will be a 15-minute intermission during which the ice is resurfaced

โ›ธ๏ธ Olympic hockey past winners

Here are the past 10 winners for the Winter Olympics hockey tournament dating back to 1988.

Olympics Gold medal Silver medal Bronze medal
Beijing 2022 Finland Athletes from Russia Slovakia
Pyeongchang 2018  Athletes from Russia Germany Canada
*Sochi 2014 Canada Sweden  Finland 
*Vancouver 2010 Canada USA Finland
*Turin 2006 Sweden  Finland Czechia 
*Salt Lake City 2002 Canada United States  Athletes from Russia
*Nagano 1998 Czechia  Athletes from Russia Finland 
Lillehammer 1994 Sweden  Canada Finland 
Albertville 1992 Unified Team Canada Czechoslovakia
Calgary 1988 Soviet Union Finland Sweden

*best-on-best tournament 

โ“2026 Winter Olympics hockey FAQs

Who is favored to win the 2026 Winter Olympics?

With +150 odds, Canada is favored to win the 2026 Winter Olympics. Those odds imply a 40% probability, according to our odds calculator

Who won the last Olympic hockey tournament?

Finland won the Beijing 2022 Olympic tournament. However, it wasn't a best-on-best tournament, with NHL players prohibited from participating. 

When is the 2026 Winter Olympic hockey tournament?

The 2026 Winter Olympic hockey tournament takes place from Feb. 11 to Feb. 22.

When is the 2026 Winter Olympic hockey gold medal game?

The gold medal game occurs on Sunday, Feb. 22 at 7:10am ET. 

Who won the last best-on-best Olympic hockey tournament? 

Canada won the last best-on-best Olympic hockey tournament in 2014 at the Sochi Olympics. 

How many players are on an Olympic hockey roster? 

The maximum number of players on an Olympic men's hockey roster is 25, and the maximum number for an Olympic women's hockey roster is 23. However, each team can only dress 20 skaters and two goaltenders for each game. 

๐Ÿ’ NHL betting odds pages

Here are our futures pages breaking down the best NHL odds to help with your NHL picks.

๐Ÿฅ… Best Olympic hockey betting sites

Looking to bet on the 2026 Winter Olympics? Here are our best hockey betting sites as determined by our expert team at Sportsbook Review, along with our best sportsbook promos.

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