The Women’s Ice Hockey Tournament at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 continued today with many of the PWHL’s 61 Olympians on the ice. Below is a recap of day six results, notable performances, and a closer look at action ahead.
TUESDAY’S PRELIMINARY ROUND RECAP
UNITED STATES (5) VS. CANADA (0)
Seattle’s Hannah Bilka scored two goals and Boston’s Aerin Frankel stopped all 20 shots to record the first shutout victory, and largest margin of victory, against Canada in Olympic women’s hockey history. Britta Curl-Salemme (MIN), Hilary Knight (SEA) and Haley Winn (BOS) recorded one assist apiece as the U.S. wrapped up the preliminary round with a perfect 4-0 record atop the Group A standings. Montréal’s Ann-Renée Desbiens made 22 saves but suffered her first loss in six career Olympic starts, with Vancouver’s Emerance Maschmeyer stopping all six shots she faced in just over eight minutes of relief. Canada was without Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin who is listed day-to-day with a lower-body injury sustained in Monday’s game against Czechia. The first-place Americans will take on Italy in the quarterfinals, while the Canadians will face Finland to complete the preliminary round, needing one point to secure second-place in the group.
FINLAND (3) VS. SWITZERLAND (1)
Ottawa rookie Sanni Ahola stopped 13 of 14 shots faced for her first career Olympic win and Finland’s first victory of the tournament. Vancouver’s Michelle Karvinen picked up a primary assist on Finland’s third goal of the middle frame, her first point in Italy, and Boston’s Alina Müller scored the lone goal for Switzerland, finding the back of the net for the second time in four games. The Finns, who were without Fleet forward Susanna Tapani following an injury in Sunday’s game against Czechia, will face Canada on Thursday to decide the Group A standings. Finland can finish in second place with a regulation victory or in third place with an overtime or shootout win. The Swiss finish in fifth place in the group and will face either Finland or Czechia in the quarterfinals.
GERMANY (2) VS. ITALY (1)
Boston’s Laura Kluge continued her breakout performance in Milan with two points today, including the winning goal with 89 seconds remaining in regulation to finish the preliminary round with seven points in four games. Vancouver rookie defender Nina Jobst-Smith‘s third point of the tournament was a primary helper on the game-winner, and Montréal’s Sandra Abstreiter made 23 saves for her third victory. Toronto’s Kristin Della Rovere recorded a secondary helper to finish the preliminary round as Italy’s top scorer with four points. Both teams advance to the quarterfinals as the second and third-place teams out of Group B, with Germany to face the second-place team in Group A and Italy to face the first-place United States.
SWEDEN (4) VS. JAPAN (0)
New York defender Maja Nylén Persson contributed two assists for her first points of the tournament, and Toronto forward Sara Hjalmarsson finished the preliminary round with five points after picking up the primary helper on Sweden’s winning tally at 5:25 of the first period. The win completes a perfect 4-0 record for Sweden atop the Group B standings, setting up a quarterfinal matchup with the third-place team in Group A. Japan finishes the tournament in ninth place with one win and three losses.
RECORDS AND MILESTONES
- Müller is Switzerland’s all-time Olympic goal scoring leader, breaking the record previously held by Stefanie Marty (13), making her one of just nine players with 14 or more career goals and 10 players with 26 or more career points.
- Knight is nowtied for third in all-time Olympic scoring alongside fellow American Jenny Potter with 32 career points.
- Frankel is just the ninth goaltender, and fourth American, to record two shutouts in a single Olympic tournament.
- Abstreiter is the first German goaltender in Olympic women’s hockey history to win three games, holding both the single tournament and all-time records.
- Kluge has set a German Olympic record for single tournament scoring with seven points and ranks third on the country’s all-time scoring list.
- Della Rovere has set new Olympic benchmarks for Italy in both single tournament and all-time scoring with four points.
- Karvinen has recorded a point in five different Olympic Winter Games and is one point shy of tying Riikka Sallinen’s Finnish record of 25 career points.
- Ahola became just the sixth Finnish netminder to earn an Olympic victory, winning in just her second career game.
- Hjalmarsson and Nylén Persson are now tied for eighth on Sweden’s all-time Olympic scoring list, both with eight points in 15 career games.
- Desbiens became the third goaltender in Canadian women’s hockey history to record 1,000 career saves in international competition.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…
JOCKS IN JILLS
Jocks in Jills returned for its fourth live show of the Winter Olympics, with Tessa and Julia breaking down another big day of women’s hockey. They were joined by 2018 Olympic gold medalist Haley Skarupa, now a Scouting Consultant for the Minnesota Frost, alongside regular guest Courtney Kennedy, two-time Olympic medalist, to discuss Team USA’s 5-0 win over Team Canada. Four-time Olympian and Olympic bronze medalist Florence Schelling then joined the show to add her analysis, touching on the action from a goaltender’s perspective. Watch the episode here.
Up next: As the preliminary round comes to an end — the rescheduled game between Canada and Finland takes place on Feb. 12 — Tessa and Julia will be live again on Feb. 13 to break down the first two quarterfinal games as the tournament moves into the knockout stage. Watch live on the PWHL’s YouTube channel.