A pivotal Group A matchup is set for Sunday night in Milan, as Czechia prepares to take on Finland in women’s ice hockey action at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Lehtonen is not the only player on Team Finland with Olympic experience. Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen was playing for HIFK in Liiga, Finland's top hockey league, and Seattle Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen with Jokerit of the Kontinental Hockey League, when they were Lehtonen's teammates at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.

The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 begins Wednesday when the 12 nations compete in three groups. Group A consists of Canada, Czechia, France and Switzerland. Finland, Italy, Sweden and Slovakia will play in Group B. Group C features Denmark, Germany, Latvia and the United States.

Day 1 of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina saw competition heat up across several team sports while the first five gold medals of the games were handed out. Canada women's hockey secured a 4-0 win over Switzerland to cap off its long-awaited debut in Milan after its first game was postponed due to a norovirus outbreak among Finland.

One period earlier, Knight scored her 14th career Olympic goal, tying the American record held by Natalie Darwitz and Katie King. Knight did it in style too, taking a feed from teammate Laila Edwards and beating Finnish goalie Sanni Ahola short-side top corner.

The Finnish women's hockey team won't open Olympic play against Team Canada on Thursday as originally scheduled. A norovirus outbreak throughout the Finnish team has led to over a dozen players being quarantined ahead of the contest, per multiple reports.

Finland women’s hockey team’s preliminary round-opening game against Canada on Thursday has been postponed due to a stomach virus depleting Finland’s roster.

When Kaapo Kakko suffered his second injury of the NHL season in mid-November, the Finn had genuine concern it would interfere with his Olympic dreams.

The Finland women's hockey team had its opening game of the Winter Olympics against Canada on Thursday postponed due to a stomach virus depleting the roster. The game was rescheduled for Feb. 12. https://t.co/rp2a3dnYH3 The virus began affecting the Finland squad on Tuesday night.

With NHL players finally returning to the Olympics, Team USA revealed its captain and alternate captains for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic men’s hockey team.

The U.S. kept its foot on the gas in the middle stanza, with Joy Dunne and Hayley Scamuura scoring just over a minute apart to widen the gap. There was an instance where it looked like Czechia was going to fight back, as Barbora Jurickova scored on a breakaway after serving a penalty to make it 3-1. However, that was as close as the game got.