It's time to let slapshots fly and watch the 2022 Winter Olympics ice hockey, as Team USA is already winning in Beijing. And America's women's Olympic ice hockey team is looking to repeat as gold medalists as they defend their 2018 win against Canada.
• Start and end dates: Feb. 3-19
• Next event: USA vs ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) women's ice hockey on Sat., Feb. 5 @ 8:10 a.m. ET
• Watch anywhere: Try ExpressVPN risk-free
• US: Peacock, Sling and Fubo
• UK: Discovery+, BBC iPlayer
So, after you watch watch the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, you can tune into the preliminary rounds for both the men's and women's teams as they try and advance. The women's team is expected to be in the gold medal game again this year, up against their rivals from the northern border.
And those expectations are natural when Team USA has 13 players from the 2018 gold medal team coming back. Those include goalie Maddie Rooney (of Duluth, MN) and Hilary Knight (of Sun Valley, ID). Knight was the youngest member of Team USA when she debuted in 2010, and she brings the following accolades with her: three Olympic medals, eight world titles and the all-time U.S. points total record (80).
The big sour note about this year's Olympic ice hockey is that the NHL declined to send any players to Beijing. And, unsurprisingly, the NHL made this decision out of of concern over Covid-19 outbreaks, which had already been taking place in the NFL prior to last Christmas.
Instead, we're getting a mix of college hockey stars and former pro hockey players. Mixing and matching for the sake of experience and youth may sound like a good idea, but why not just go with the best college hockey team? They'd already have cohesion.
Check out our complete guide on how to watch ice hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
How to watch the Olympics ice hockey for free
There are multiple ways for you to watch the Winter Olympics ice hockey for free, so you don't need to pay to root for your nation's athletes to get the gold.
In the U.S., you can watch some ice hockey coverage for free on NBC if you get the local channel with one of the best TV antennas.
Australia has the best way to watch the Olympics without paying, as 7Plus has most of the events (up to 16 live streams!) for free. Australians who are vacationing abroad can use a VPN, such ExpressVPN (our #1 pick) to evade the geo-blocking walls that would stop them from watching abroad. More on how to do that below.
For those in the U.K., BBC iPlayer is the way to watch the Olympics ice hockey for free. Canada's CBC and New Zealand's TVNZ also offer free Olympics coverage.
How to watch the Olympics ice hockey from anywhere in the world
The 2022 Winter Olympics is a global event and can be viewed in almost every country on Earth. However, if you're not in your home country and can't watch the Team USA ice hockey live streams with your usual services — or you want to watch in your native language — you're not out of luck. With a virtual private network, or VPN, you can appear to be surfing the web from your home town (or somewhere that blackouts won't hit), and access the same streaming services you already paid for.
Not sure which VPN is right for you? We've tested many different services and our pick for the best VPN overall is ExpressVPN. It offers superb speeds and excellent customer service. But you've got other VPN options as well. Here are our top picks.
Using a VPN is incredibly simple.
1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, ExpressVPN is our favorite.
2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance if you're in the U.S. and want to view a U.K. service, you'd select U.K. from the list.
3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to your website or streaming service of choice and tune in.
How to watch the Winter Olympics ice hockey in the US
In the U.S. Winter Olympics ice hockey will air on NBC and USA.
If you've cut the cord and don't get NBC and USA through your cable package, you can access those channels through Sling TV and Fubo TV, two of the picks on our best streaming services list.
How to watch Winter Olympics ice hockey on Peacock
Peacock is streaming every event in the 2022 Winter Olympics, live and on-demand.
The service has learned its lesson from Tokyo Olympics last summer. This time, all events, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies, will be available on the platform.
Peacock has created a special Winter Olympics hub and users can browse by sport, add individual events to their Must Watch list and fast-forward and rewind live events.
While Peacock has a free tier, Olympics coverage will only be available with Peacock Premium, which costs $4.99 per month for the ad-supported plan or $9.99 for the ad-limited plan.
How to watch Winter Olympics ice hockey in the UK
Brits have it easy when it comes to watching Winter Olympics ice hockey events — they can just tune into BBC and BBC iPlayer.
However, BBC doesn't have a monopoly on Olympics coverage in the U.K. and it won't broadcast all events.
To watch every event live, you'll instead want to subscribe to Discovery Plus UK, which is offering coverage of every event in Beijing. Subscriptions are available for £6.99/month or £29.99/year. The service is available to stream through a multitude of devices include Chromecast, Apple TV, Android TV and apps for iOS and Android.
If you're traveling outside of the U.K. and have a valid U.K. TV license, you can still follow the Winter Olympics by using one of the best VPN services, such as ExpressVPN.
How to watch Winter Olympics ice hockey in Canada
Canadians can get comprehensive coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics on CBC, the CBC website and the CBC app.
You can also sign up for the streaming service CBC Gem, which has a 1-month free trial. After that, a subscription costs $4.99 CAD per month.
If you're traveling out of the country, you can use ExpressVPN to access your paid-for services.
How to watch Winter Olympics ice hockey in Australia
Down Under, Aussies can watch Olympics ice hockey for free on or stream it on the network’s 7Plus streaming service.
Currently out of the country? Use ExpressVPN to access your paid-for services.
2022 Winter Olympics Team USA ice hockey schedule
The full schedule of games for all teams is available here.
All times below are in E.T..
Women's Preliminary round games (Feb. 3 - 8)
- Thurs. Feb. 3 @ 8:10 a.m.: USA defeated Finland 5-2
- Sat., Feb. 5 @ 8:10 a.m.: USA vs ROC (Russian Olympic Committee)
- Sun., Feb. 6 @ 8:10 a.m.: Switzerland vs USA
- Mon., Feb. 7 @ 11:10 p.m.: USA vs Canada
Then, we've got the Women's play-offs quarterfinals (Feb. 10 - 12), play-offs semi-finals (Feb 13 - Feb 14), with games at 11:10 p.m., 3:40 a.m. and 8:10 a.m..
Then, the bronze medal game is live at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 16 and the gold medal game is later that day at 11:10 p.m..
Men’s preliminary round (Feb. 10 - 13)
- Thur., Feb. 10 @ 11:10 p.m.: USA vs People's Republic of China
- Fri., Feb. 11 @ 11:10 p.m.: USA vs Canada
- Sun., Feb. 13 @ 8:10 a.m.: USA vs Germany
Then, we've got the Men's qualifying play-offs on Monday, Feb. 14 and Tuesday, Feb. 15, and with quarterfinals continuing that Tuesday. The quarterfinals culminate on Wednesday, Feb. 16. Games will be played at 11:10 p.m., 1 a.m., 3:40 a.m. and 8:30 a.m..
Semi-finals games are on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 11:10 a.m. and Friday, Feb. 18 at 8:10 a.m..
Then, the bronze medal game is live at 8:10 a.m. on Saturday, February 19 and the gold medal game is later that day at 11:10 p.m..
Team USA Ice Hockey teams
Here are the rosters of the women's and men's ice hockey teams sent to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics:
Women's team:
Goalies: Alex Cavallini, Nicole Hensley, Maddie Rooney
Defenders: Cayla Barnes, Megan Bozek, Jincy Dunne, Savannah Harmon, Caroline Harvey, Megan Keller, Lee Stecklein
Forwards: Hannah Brandt, Dani Cameranesi, Alex Carpenter, Jesse Compher, Kendall Coyne Schofield (c), Brianna Decker, Amanda Kessel, Hilary Knight, Abbey Murphy, Kelly Pannek, Abby Roque, Hayley Scamurra, Grace Zumwinkle
Men's team:
Goalies: Drew Commesso, Strauss Mann, Pat Nagle
Defenders: Brian Cooper, Brock Faber, Drew Helleson, Steven Kampfer, Aaron Ness, Nick Perbix, Jake Sanderson, David Warsofsky
Forwards: Nick Abruzzese, Ken Agostino, Matty Beniers, Brendan Brisson, Noah Cates, Sean Farrell, Sam Hentges, Matthew Knies, Mark McLaughlin, Ben Meyers, Andy Miele, Brian O'Neill, Nick Shore, Nathan Smith
