Over the last few days some several of the international hockey federations have begun to announce their men’s and women’s hockey rosters for the 2026 Winter Olympics that will take place in Milan and Cortina
d’Ampezzo, Italy, from February 6-22. Both the US men’s and women’s roster were announced last Friday with a quintet of current and former Minnesota Golden Gophers named to the women’s hockey team, and former Gopher Brock Faber named to the US men’s roster. They were joined by a pair of Finns on Friday as well, one from the women’s side and one from the men’s.
Friday morning live on The Today Show on NBC both the US men’s and women’s hockey rosters were revealed. Faber was named to the US Men’s squad where he likely will partner on defense with his current Minnesota Wild D-partner in Quinn Hughes. It will be Faber’s second Olympic games after playing on the US team in 2022 in Beijing when he was a sophomore with the Gophers and the US selected a roster that was mostly made up of college players. Faber becomes just the ninth former Golden Gopher to be named to the American roster twice.
The US Women’s roster will have four former Gopher stars and one current Gopher star on it in Italy. Defender Lee Stecklein is the dean of the group as the 2017 Gopher graduate will play in her fourth Olympic games with Team USA. The Roseville native has totaled one goal and one assist in winning one gold medal in 2018, and a pair of silvers in 2014 and 2022. Forward Kelly Pannek will be making her third US Olympic roster after winning a gold medal in 2018 and a silver in 2022. Pannek has two goals and six assists in 12 Olympic games. Making their second Olympic games will be Gopher alum Grace Zumwinkle and current 5th year Gopher star Abbey Murphy. Both made their Olympic debuts in 2022 winning silver with the US squad. Zumwinkle scored one goal and Murphy had a single assist. Making her Olympic debut with Team USA will be Minnesota Frost star Taylor Heise. One of the final cuts from the 2022 US squad, Heise has become one of the best two-way forwards in the world over the past four years.
All four Gopher alums play for the Minnesota Frost in the PWHL with Murphy expected to be a top pick in next spring’s PWHL draft. All five players skated in the 2025 Rivalry Series leading up to the Games. Murphy shared the team lead in goals with five, highlighted by a hat trick in the series opener. Heise led all players in points (nine) and assists (eight), while Murphy followed closely with eight points. Pannek added three goals of her own as Team USA completed a 4-0 series sweep, outscoring Canada 24-7.
Murphy has been one of the best players in the NCAA this season for Minnesota leading the nation in points with 43 and goals with 24 after her career high seven point performance with a hat trick and four assists in Minnesota’s 14-2 win over Sacred Heart on Saturday.
The Gophers added a pair of additional Olympians when Finland announced their rosters on Friday as well. Erik Haula will join Faber in Italy in the men’s competition. Haula will be playing in his first Olympics with Finland and will become the 60th different Gopher men’s player to skate in the Olympic Games. Haula has had a productive season with the Nashville Predators this year with 21 points (five goals, 16 assists) through 41 games.
Gopher women’s senior defender Nelli Laitinen will make her second Olympic appearance on the Finland roster as well. She was on the 2022 Finland squad that won the bronze medal and is the third Finnish Olympian in program history, along with Mira Jalosuo and Noora Räty. At the 2022 Games in Beijing, she recorded seven points (two goals, five assists) in seven games. Laitinen celebrated by scoring a hat trick and adding a pair of assists in Minnesota’s 14-2 win over Sacred Heart on Saturday.
No other Minnesota men will be named to their respective Olympic rosters, but the Gopher women will have at least one more player if not more. So far only the US, Finland and Japan have announced their rosters for the tournament, but it is a lock that current Gopher senior Grace Bouveng will be on the Sweden roster when it is announced. Minnesota will likely have two members on the Czechia squad with current Gopher freshman Tereza Plosová joined by alum Natálie Mlýnková. Additionally, current sophomore defender Chloe Primerano is on the bubble for a spot on Team Canada as well and may hear her name called when Canada announces their roster on January 9th.
We will have more Olympic coverage of all our Gophers headed to Italy as the other rosters are named and the games grow closer.
