Wisconsin women’s hockey will be well represented in the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, as four current and two former Badgers were announced to the final U.S. Olympic Women’s Hockey roster earlier this month.
Senior defenders Laila Edwards and Caroline Harvey, senior forward Kirsten Simms and junior goaltender Ava McNaughton make up the four active Badgers on the Olympic team, while former Badgers and current PWHL stars Britta Curl-Salemme and Hilary Knight will also join them in Milan Cortina.
Freshman forward Adéla Šapovalivová has also been named to the Czech national team.
Two members of the Wisconsin athletic staff, athletic trainer Stefanie Arndt and former Wisconsin Director of Operations/equipment manager Sis Paulsen will also travel to Italy as Team USA staff members.
The six Badgers on Team USA are the most of any university, with Minnesota yielding five players (one current) and Northeastern and Boston College both claiming four (none current).
Team USA announced the rosters Jan. 2 on the TODAY show, with Edwards, a first-time Olympian, representing the women’s team for the reveal.
“It still hasn’t really kicked in yet, just getting that call is like a dream come true,” Edwards said on the show. “I grew up watching [Miracle on Ice], so I always had dreams of playing in the Pro, but the biggest dream was going to the Olympics for sure.”
Edwards is also set to become the first Black woman to play in the Olympics for the national team this February.
"Having to possibly be the first Black woman on the national team is nice, but it’s also kind of sad if you think about it,” Edwards said in a 2022 interview with The Hockey News, “because how long has that been around when the first person hasn’t happened yet?”
Harvey will be a two-time Olympian. The Badgers’ captain was the youngest player on the 2022 Olympic team, when she was just 19 years-old. Though she ended the Games scoreless, Harvey has since become a star for the Badgers and will join Team USA in pursuit of gold.
Hilary Knight will become the only American hockey player to play in five different Olympic Games. As a Badger, Knight won two National Championships and scored 143 goals, the most goals in Wisconsin men and women’s hockey history.
The loss of Edwards, Harvey, McNaughton and Simms will be sizable, however, as the Badgers look to defend their record 8th National Championship. Series against conference rivals and frequent championship contenders Minnesota and Ohio State will fall during the Olympics. However, due to Olympic call-ups, Minnesota will be without captain Abbey Murphy and Ohio State without Joy Dunne, who both lead their teams in goals.
With the women’s hockey gold and bronze medal games falling on Feb. 19 and the closing ceremony on the 22, all collegiate players are expected to return to their schools by Feb. 27 for the first round of WCHA playoffs.
Wisconsin’s six representatives will begin their 2026 Olympic journey Feb. 5 in Team USA’s first match of the Games: a preliminary round game against Czechia.
Annika Bereny is the campus news editor for The Daily Cardinal. She previously served as the special pages editor. As a staff writer, she's written in-depth on campus news specializing in protest policy, free speech and historical analysis. She has also written for state and city news. She is a History and Journalism major. Follow her on Twitter at @annikabereny.
