2026 Olympic Women’s Hockey Preview: Czechia
The Czech women’s Olympic ice hockey team will have plenty of hope when they hit the ice at Milano-Cortina 2026, having been one of the most significant beneficiaries of the growth of the professional game in North America.
Led by Ottawa Charge head coach Carla MacLeod, the Czechs enter the tournament having won two of the last four bronze medals at the IIHF Women’s World Ice Hockey Championships, with the other two results being fourth-place finishes.
With a European-based Games likely bringing out some strongly-favoring crowds and a team buoyed by the recent PWHL success of Kristýna Kaltounková with the New York Sirens in her first professional season, there is plenty of reason to have hope heading into the Games.
LOOKING BACK TO 2022
The last four years have been formative for Czech women’s ice hockey, but they were already showing some bright spots at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, ending their tournament with a 4-1 loss to USA in the quarterfinals.
Czechia advanced to the knockout stage as second-place finishers in Group B, on the back of wins against Sweden and China, as well as an overtime loss to group winners Japan after falling to Denmark in regulation.
The seventh-place finish in the program’s second Olympics marked a historic best and saw the international breakthroughs of stars like Tereza Vanišová, who scored two goals and six points before going on to become the key international star and PWHL regular she is today.
OFFENSE
There is a strong argument to be made that this is the best group of players Czechia has ever had in a major international tournament, and that quality starts with their offensive presence.
The top pick in the 2025 PWHL Draft, Kaltounková has gotten off to a stellar start as a rookie with the Sirens, scoring eight goals and an assist in nine games, putting her in a favorable position to claim the league’s rookie of the year honors.
The former Colgate University standout will be joined by fellow PWHL stars, including Denisa Křížová, Kateřina Mrázová, Tereza Vanišová, Natálie Mlýnková and Klára Hymlárová, all of whom have played regular minutes with their club teams this season.
Vanišová, in particular, will be a threat, potentially alongside an outright goalscorer like Kaltounková. With the Vancouver Goldeneyes this season, Vanišová has a goal and six assists, often linking up with Michelle Karvinen and Sarah Nurse, when healthy, two players also going to the Olympics for their respective nations.
Outside of their top offensive talent from the PWHL, MacLeod’s team will also lean on 19-year-old Wisconsin Badgers standout Adéla Šapovalivová, who has nine goals and 21 assists in 22 NCAA games in 2025-26.
“I think we have the best possible team going,” Kaltounková told reporters after a recent Sirens game. “We learned a lot during those tournaments [Euro Hockey Tour]. We knew exactly what our weaknesses were, as well as our strengths, so we worked on our weaknesses and, hopefully, fine-tuned them for this big tournament.”
DEFENSE
Czechia’s defense will also feature a pair of PWHL players, with Seattle Torrent blueliner Aneta Tejralová and Boston Fleet defender Daniela Pejsová teaming up. Meanwhile, two former PWHL defenders, Dominika Lásková and Noemi Neubauerová, both now playing in Europe, also bolster the defensive systems.
At the 2025 World Championships, Czechia conceded 21 goals in seven games en route to a fourth-place finish, but they are likely to improve in the most pivotal games, given they are Group A participants alongside the world’s top teams.
At the same time, they could also take inspiration from a solid defensive year by MacLeod’s PWHL time with the Ottawa Charge, who, after 15 games, led the league with a 19.6% penalty kill percentage, despite having conceded a PWHL second-worst 39 goals through that spell.
GOALTENDING
MacLeod won’t have a PWHL goalie to lean on in net, but brings in a top duo that represented the team at the 2025 World Championships with Brynas IF’s Klára Peslarová and Dartmouth University’s Michaela Hesová. Expected to be the third goalie, 22-year-old Julie Pejšová of HC MIlevsko also cracks the senior national team roster for the first time.
Peslarová played four games with the Boston Fleet in 2024-25, making 89 saves on the 95 PWHL shots she faced for a .937 save percentage in her only games ever played for a North American team. This season, she returned to the Swedish top division and boasts a .913 save percentage through 21 games.
Likely to back her up, Hesová returns after making two appearances at the 2025 World Championships and amid a season that has seen her so far post a .916 save percentage through 19 games with Dartmouth, with potential eyes on a future PWHL role.
As strong as the PWHL-heavy forwards and defenders are, whichever netminder ends up in the crease in the preliminary games against Canada and the USA will see plenty of rubber. Yet, both top goalie options are among those who could force a surprise upset.
COACHING
Two-time Olympic champion Carla MacLeod has led the Czech women’s national team since 2022, helping them rise in the recent quadrennial between Olympic tournaments.
The 43-year-old became the head coach of the Ottawa Charge for the PWHL’s inaugural 2024 season and has remained in the role since, helping Ottawa to the 2025 Walter Cup Final before falling to the Minnesota Frost.
Prior to her time with the Charge, MacLeod led the University of Calgary in Canadian university hockey and before that, spent four years as an assistant coach with Japan, helping to lead their efforts at the Sochi 2014 Olympics.
In November, MacLeod announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had taken on treatments, which have allowed her to continue coaching Ottawa and will allow her to lead a hopeful Czech team in Italy.
“She’s a great human being, and I think it starts with that. She instilled a mentality that there’s got to be a lot of professionalism in how the staff treats us, and just kind of the overall relationships on that team, which in the past was lacking at times,” Kaltounková said of MacLeod.
“I really like playing for her because she [is]… just kind of go out there, play your game, be physical, and if you make a mistake, it happens, it’s either her coaching me and telling me what I could do better there, or just her recognizing that I acknowledge my mistake and doesn’t even need to have a conversation with me.”
BURNING QUESTION
How good can the PWHLers be?
These Olympics will be the first that feature most of the top players playing against each other each week in the PWHL, meaning many of Czechia’s players are at a higher level than ever before and won’t be stunned by the qualities of Canada or USA.
Given the inclusion of some of the most established PWHL stars, Czechia stands as the best team to force a potential upset on one of the pre-eminent powers of the sport. In particular, their youthful edge and scoring touch could catch an experienced-laden Canadian team off guard at some point in the tournament.
A realistic goal for Czechia would be a bronze medal, but that’s not the mentality they’re entering the tournament with.
“I’m getting tired of reading the headlines of Canada or the USA for gold,” added Kaltounková. “I think we just need to understand that we’re in these games now and mentally prepare for being in those games. I think we have done that during worlds, and we’re much closer than in the past.”
PREDICTION
Czechia should enter this tournament eyeing a medal, and there is no reason that Kaltounková’s dreams of a silver or gold can’t come true by the end of the tournament. Yet, it’s not enough for me to select them as the team that will force an upset, even against a Canadian team that seems primed for it.
Expect Czechia to finish third in Group A, ahead of Finland, and earn a chance at a quarterfinal against a lower-ranked Group B team. Should they get to that point, they’d stand just one win away from a spot on the podium, or two from a gold medal.
FULL ROSTER
Forwards
Klára Hymlárová (Minnesota Frost, PWHL)
Barbora Juříčková (HPK Naiset, Auroliga)
Kristýna Kaltounková (New York Sirens, PWHL)
Denisa Křížová (Minnesota Frost, PWHL)
Natálie Mlýnková (Montreal Victoire, PWHL)
Kateřina Mrázová (Ottawa Charge, PWHL)
Michaela Pejzlová (HC Ambrì-Piotta, SUI)
Tereza Pištěková (SDE Hockey, SDHL)
Tereza Plosová (Univ. of Minnesota, NCAA)
Vendula Přibylová (MoDo Hockey, SDHL)
Adéla Šapovalivová (Wisconsin, NCAA)
Tereza Vanišová (Vancouver Goldeneyes, PWHL)
Linda Vocetková (Djurgårdens, SDHL)
Defenders
Sára Čajanová (Brynäs IF, SDHL)
Dominika Lásková (SDE Hockey, SDHL)
Noemi Neubauerová (EV Zug, SWHL A)
Daniela Pejšová (Boston Fleet, PWHL)
Klára Seroiszková (HC Davos Ladies, SWHL A)
Aneta Tejralová (Seattle Torrent, PWHL)
Andrea Trnková (Clarkson University, NCAA)
Goalies
Michaela Hesová (Dartmouth College, NCAA)
Julie Pejšová (HC Milevsko 1934, CZE)
Klára Peslarová (Brynäs IF, SDHL)
PRELIMINARY ROUND SCHEDULE
Here’s Czechia’s schedule for its group stage games:
- Thursday, Feb. 5: USA vs. Czechia, 10:40 a.m. ET
- Friday, Feb. 6: Czechia vs. Switzerland, 8:40 a.m. ET
- Sunday, Feb. 8: Czechia vs. Finland, 3:10 p.m. ET
Monday, Feb. 9: Canada vs. Czechia, 3:10 p.m. ET
The quarterfinals will begin on Feb. 13 and conclude the following day. Both semifinals are taking place on Feb. 16. The tournament will wrap up on Feb. 19 with both the gold and bronze medal games.