Slovakia unveils jerseys for 2026 Winter Olympic hockey tournament

A familiar, but slightly altered look for a team hoping to be competitive this February in Italy.

On Wednesday, the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation unveiled the jerseys that the men’s national team will wear at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina.

While there are many similarities to this version of the Olympic jerseys compared to past years. The logo remains across the crest, with the base colors remaining red, blue and white. There’s also the blue shoulders for the white-based jerseys. Adjusted on the new uniforms is the rigid design that goes across the jerseys under the neck, potentially paying homage to the mountains around the Italian landscape that will be featured throughout the Winter Games.

The Slovaks have a solid core heading into next year’s tournament. While the full roster has yet to be announced, the first six include NHL talent in forwards Juraj Slafkovsky, Martin Pospisil, and Tomas Tatar, along with defenseman Simon Nemec, Martin Fehervary and Erik Cernak. While there’s going to be some notable young talent potentially added to the roster, the Slovaks are still expected to struggle to keep up with the big guns in Finland, Sweden, Canada and the United States.

In 2022 in Beijing, the last time the men’s tournament didn’t feature NHLers, Slovakia took home the bronze medal, the men’s team’s first-ever medal since the split of Czechoslovakia. Even with NHL talent, Slovakia has had its struggles in the international stage, only making it as far as the quarterfinals at the IIHF Men’s World Championship, with the team’s seventh-place in Czechia in 2024 being the program’s best performance in over a decade.

Slovakia will be part of the first game in the men’s tournament in Italy, taking on Finland on Feb. 11.

The women’s national team failed to qualify for the Olympics for the fourth consecutive Games.