Happy Hockey Friday, and Happy Olympics! I’m LJ Bachenheimer from The Ice Garden with this week’s batch of women’s hockey news. The big event these days is, of course, the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics. The Opening Ceremony may be tonight, but the preliminary round of the women’s hockey tournament started yesterday. As such, I thought it would be appropriate to liken the world’s best teams to Italy’s best food: pasta. Using my very scientific (read: completely subjective) matching strategy, I have assigned every team competing in the Olympics women’s hockey tournament a type of pasta! (If you want actual team analysis, I’ve also linked each pick to The Ice Garden’s Olympic team previews.)
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Canada: Ravioli
Ravioli is a classic stuffed pasta, traditionally made from two sheets of pasta wrapped around a savory filling and crimped into a square or circular shape. It’s a kind of pasta with a lot of history, with the first mentions of a ravioli dish dating back to the 14th century. Team Canada is a classic team with a lot of history, having appeared in every Olympic gold medal game. Like a ricotta filling, the Canadian roster is built around a crucial core of veteran players, including Marie-Philip Poulin, Natalie Spooner, Erin Ambrose and Ann-Renée Desbiens.
For this team, anything less than gold will be as disappointing as a filled pasta bursting while boiling, though a recent lack of success against the U.S. is concerning. But Canada can assemble the perfect dish if everything comes together like it did the last time they took home Olympic gold.
United States: Cascatelli
Cascatelli, a ruffled half-tube pasta shape, is one of the newest recognized pasta types, designed by American food podcaster Dan Pashman in 2021. The name comes from the Italian word for waterfall, and the unique shape is meant to hold sauce and be easy to pick up on a fork. With all of these qualities, I think cascatelli is an appropriate pasta pick for Team USA. Their roster is considerably younger than Canada’s, including twelve first-time Olympians, but powerful like a waterfall, with some of the best stars from the PWHL and NCAA. One could even argue they have a lot of sauce, with plenty of style both on and off the ice. If the U.S. reclaims the gold medal, there might be a lot of celebratory pasta in their future.
Finland: Tortellini
Tortellini is a stuffed pasta with a distinctive ring shape, traditionally filled with a seasoned mix of meat and cheese. The Olympics are also famously associated with rings, and Finland has been pretty successful at the Winter Games, with four total bronze medals, including both of the last two. The question is, can this team elevate a simple dish to a new level, challenge Canada or the U.S., and make it to the gold medal game? With a strong, experienced roster, it’s not out of the question.
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Czechia: Cavatappi
Cavatappi, meaning “corkscrew,” is a kind of pasta shaped like a hollow spiral tube. Cavatappi is a great vessel for thick, flavorful sauces, and Czechia is a flavorful team if I’ve ever seen one. Kristýna Kaltounková brings goal scoring and a little spice, Natálie Mlýnková is a smooth international veteran, teenagers Adéla Šapovalivová and Tereza Plosová add new tastes, and Klára Peslarová is strong in goal. Czechia has shown significant growth since its second-place finish in Group B at Beijing 2022, with notable success in international competition. Now, they’ll be shooting for their first Olympic medal, the perfect seasoning to finish out their recent run.
Switzerland: Gnocchi
Gnocchi are pasta-like Italian dumplings made with a simple dough boiled in water and dressed with sauce. Gnocchi are usually made with potato and sometimes cheese, two things the Swiss also love. Switzerland is an intriguing team with a lot of potential, featuring players like star Alina Müller, veteran Lara Stalder and goaltender Andrea Brändli. They lost to Finland in the bronze medal game at the 2022 Olympics, but they’ve had a rough go of it recently, with no medals at the IIHF Women’s World Championships since 2012. While it’s unlikely Switzerland is in competition for a medal this year, gnocchi is often served as an appetizer, and the Swiss team can and should put up a good fight for a medal-winner in the preliminary and quarterfinal rounds.
Germany: Gemelli
Gemelli, meaning “twins,” is twisty pasta that looks like two tubes, made from an S-shaped strand wrapped into a spiral. Germany is notably the only Olympic hockey team with a set of twins: forwards Lilli and Luisa Welcke. Gemelli is often used in casseroles and pasta salads, combining many elements and flavors like Team Germany has combined home-grown talent with experience from the NCAA, PWHL and SDHL to build a team capable of returning to and finding success at the Olympics. If they can combine it all to make a cohesive dish and get some important wins against other Group B teams, Germany can re-establish itself on the international stage as a team not to be counted out.
Sweden: Mezzelune
Mezzelune, a half-moon-shaped stuffed pasta, is kind of in the second tier of filled pastas when it comes to attention and usage, lagging behind the likes of ravioli and tortellini. Sweden, similarly, used to be at the peak of international hockey, becoming the only country other than Canada or the U.S. to appear in an Olympic gold medal game in 2006, before tumbling down the ranks in the ensuing years. But Sweden is back now and potentially at the start of a new era of success for the Damkronorna. With talent like Ohio State freshman and leading scorer Hilda Svensson, young but experienced Maja Nylén Persson, and Ebba Svensson Träff in net, Sweden’s half-moon is decidedly waxing. They’ll likely top Group B, and maybe even challenge Group A for a chance at a medal.
Japan: Tagliatelle
Tagliatelle are long, flat ribbons of pasta often served with meat and thick sauces. Some varieties of Japanese udon have a similar shape, though tagliatelle is made with egg, unlike udon. Both kinda of noodles are used in plenty of fun dishes, and Japan is a very fun team. They are Asia’s best women’s hockey team, as decisively proved with an undefeated 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s Asia Championship — where they didn’t allow a single goal all tournament. They’ll be looking to shake up the Europeans in Group B by holding their own against the likes of Germany and Sweden.
France: Farfalle
Farfalle, from the Italian word for butterfly, is a distinctive pasta with a pinched center and ridged edges, also commonly known as “bowtie” in the United States. Butterflies and bow ties are associated with beauty and style, two national traits France will be hoping to bring to the ice in their first Olympic appearance. They are the second-lowest-ranked team in the tournament, with only hosts Italy behind them, but that just means the underdog story potential is strong. Regardless of how France does in the standings, their presence in women’s hockey at the Olympics will bring attention to the program and hopefully inspire the next generation.
Italy: Mafalde
Mafalde is a ribbon-shaped pasta with wavy edges, named after Princess Malfalda of Savoy. Competing in the Olympics on home ice hopefully means Team Italy gets treated like royalty, especially after their win on Thursday over France. Pulling off the first-ever Olympic women’s hockey win for their country is an accomplishment enough, but it begs the question of what else can Italy do? They’ve eaten well already, but another upset could be the best dish yet for the home country.
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What to read
I love Olympics season for many reasons, including the fact that there’s so much good content for whatever you’re feeling. If you missed yesterday’s games, Silvia Leija Rosas recapped Thursday’s action for The Ice Garden. Giselle Velazquez has a whole bunch of features with NCAA players making the trip to Italy, including Julia Schalin, Svenja Voight, Tessa Janecke, Ida Karlsson and Thea Johansson, and Meredith Foster spoke with Andrea Brändli.
If you prefer audio content, Maya Smith did a great Olympics preview for The IX Sports Hockey Podcast. On the historical side, I did an episode about Sweden’s remarkable silver medal run at the 2006 Torino Olympics for my show, Purple Posts.
If you want more daily news, my colleague Melissa Burgess is recapping Olympic women’s hockey action for her Substack, A Fresh Sheet. And if you want updates about everything else going on in Milan and Cortina, check out Olympic Meddling, a daily Olympics newsletter written by yours truly.
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