When the Minnesota Frost and Seattle Torrent squared off in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) in early January, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Hilary Knight lined up on opposite sides of the puck.
‘Hillary (Knight’s) going to be my arch nemesis on Seattle … then she’s going to turn around and be our leader and captain and I’m going to get to play with her,’ said Coyne Schofield, who is gearing up for her fourth Games. ‘When you look at the landscape (of women’s hockey) from the 2022 Games to now, (it’s) changed significantly.’
The PWHL didn’t exist during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. But in the two years since its launch in 2024, the league has created a competitive ecosystem that’s transformed how elite players prepare for the Games. The PWHL’s influence is on full display as each nation named their Olympic roster ahead of Milano Cortina.
Of the 23 players named to the U.S. Olympic women’s ice hockey team, 16 are on PWHL rosters, including six from the defending champion Frost. The league’s impact stretches beyond the United States — Canada’s entire national team plays in the PWHL, while 22 players from the league are set to represent six European countries.
‘Having the opportunity to play in a professional league that offers us the resources, the salary, the conditions we’ve always dreamed of is incredible,’ Coyne Schofield said at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic media summit in October.
PWHL ‘elevating the game’
Training for the Olympics has changed with the addition of the PWHL. Before the league’s formation, options for players coming out of college were limited. The Canadian Women’s Hockey League folded in 2019 and the Premier Hockey Federation, which ran from 2015-2023, didn’t provide financial stability players craved. As Coyne Schofield explained it, ‘You were kind of on your own working on your craft.’
‘We were creating those resources on our own for all these years leading up to the Games,’ she added.
The PWHL is in its third season and has provided viable salaries, health care, dedicated training facilities and staff, in addition to year-round competition that’s provided invaluable reps against the world’s elite, Knight said.
‘Now with more programming, the best on best that you see at the international level is only going to continue to deepen and grow,’ said Knight, who’s set to appear in her record fifth Games. ‘All of us are elevating the game and excelling more than we have before, just because we had absence of resources that we so strongly needed.’
Coyne Schofield said the PWHL not only raises competitiveness in the U.S., but promotes parity around the world. She said its impact has shown at the past two World Championships, including the 2025 edition, where Team USA recorded a 4-3 overtime win over arch-rival Canada to win their 11th World title.
‘The best players are going to see the PWHL and they’re going to say, I want to play with the best in order to be the best. … You’ll start to see the influence throughout the game globally,’ Coyne Schofield said. ‘That gap is going to continue to close and get tighter and tighter, which is what we all want.’
PWHL players on Olympic rosters
The PWHL will pause play from Jan. 29 to Feb. 25 as dozens of players from the league represent their respective nations at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. All eight league teams — Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montreal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, Seattle Torrent, Toronto Sceptres and Vancouver Goldeneyes — will be represented at the Games. Here’s each Olympian, by country:
Canada (23)
- Goaltenders: Ann-Renée Desbiens (MTL), Emerance Maschmeyer (VAN), Kayle Osborne (NY)
- Defenders: Erin Ambrose (MTL), Renata Fast (TOR), Sophie Jaques (VAN), Jocelyne Larocque (OTT), Ella Shelton (TOR), Kati Tabin (MTL), Claire Thompson (VAN)
- Forwards: Emily Clark (OTT), Sarah Fillier (NY), Jenn Gardiner (VAN), Julia Gosling (SEA), Brianne Jenner (OTT), Emma Maltais (TOR), Sarah Nurse (VAN), Kristin O’Neill (NY), Marie-Philip Poulin (MTL), Natalie Spooner (TOR), Laura Stacey (MTL), Blayre Turnbull (TOR), Daryl Watts (TOR)
United States (16)
- Goaltenders: Aerin Frankel (BOS), Gwyneth Philips (OTT)
- Defenders: Cayla Barnes (SEA), Rory Guilday (OTT), Megan Keller (BOS), Lee Stecklein (MIN), Haley Winn (BOS)
- Forwards: Hannah Bilka (SEA), Alex Carpenter (SEA), Kendall Coyne Schofield (MIN), Britta Curl-Salemme (MIN), Taylor Heise (MIN), Hilary Knight (SEA), Kelly Pannek (MIN), Hayley Scamurra (MTL), Grace Zumwinkle (MIN)
Czechia (8)
- Forwards: Klára Hymlárová (MIN), Kristýna Kaltounková (NY), Denisa Křížová (MIN), Natálie Mlýnková (MTL), Kateřina Mrázová (OTT), Tereza Vanišová (VAN)
- Defenders: Daniela Pejšová (BOS), Aneta Tejralová (SEA)
Finland (4)
- Forwards: Michelle Karvinen (VAN), Susanna Tapani (BOS)
- Defender: Ronja Savolainen (OTT)
- Goaltender: Sanni Ahola (OTT)
Sweden (4)
- Forwards: Sara Hjalmarsson (TOR), Lina Ljungblom (MTL)
- Defenders: Anna Kjellbin (TOR), Maja Nylén-Persson (NY)
Germany (3)
- Forward: Laura Kluge (BOS)
- Defender: Nina Jobst-Smith (VAN)
- Goaltender: Sandra Abstreiter (MTL)
Switzerland (2)
- Forward: Alina Müller (BOS)
- Defender: Nicole Vallario (NY)
Italy (1)
- Forward: Kristin Della Rovere (TOR)
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