By Trevor Stynes MILAN, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Canada's defence of their Olympic women's ice hockey title took longer than expected to get underway, and they also took a while to get the goals flowing before finishing off Switzerland on Saturday,

The Canadian women have won gold at five of the last six Winter Olympics, but USA has all the momentum heading into the 2026 Milano Cortina Games.

Before Olympic hockey begins, a few NHL stars took a moment to share their dream alternate sports.

Canada women's hockey team brushed off concerns over the postponement of their opening game at the Olympics due to Finland players falling ill with norovirus, and they are even more eager to get started,

It was a full day for Auston Matthews and one he’s not likely to forget any time soon. It started with the long charter flight here from North America, and continued with the Toronto Maple Leafs captain being officially assigned the same role for Team USA at the Milan-Cortina Games.

It’s game on for Finland and Switzerland in the women’s hockey tournament at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Saturday despite both nations dealing with a stomach virus affecting its players. Finland had its full complement of 20 skaters and two goalies dressed for warmups ahead of playing the United States,

Two-time gold medallist Sidney Crosby will serve as captain of the Canadian men's Olympic ice hockey team at the Milano Cortina Winter Games, Hockey Canada announced on Sunday.

Auston Matthews was named captain of Team USA for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Sunday. The United States named Charlie McAvoy and Matthew Tkachuk as alternates, keeping the same leadership group from the 4 Nations Face-Off last season,