Story byCanada announces roster for Olympic women’s hockey: Snubs, surprises and expectationsHailey SalvianFri, January 9, 2026 at 8:46 PM UTC·6 min readTORONTO — The Canadian women’s national hockey team will lean on an experience-heavy roster at the 2026 Olympics, naming 20 returning players from the 2025 world championships to its 23-player roster on Friday afternoon. That includes 13 forwards who represented the national team last April, including three of the top five goal scorers in the PWHL this season — captain Marie-Philip Poulin, Brianne Jenner and Daryl Watts. Jennifer Gardiner, who finished second in tournament scoring, will make her Olympic debut. So will Watts, who is second all-time in PWHL scoring behind only Poulin. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSarah Nurse, who set the Olympic record for scoring in a single tournament (18) in 2022, will also return to the roster and should be ready for Milan after missing most of the 2025-26 season due to injury. Among the six returning defenders are all three 2025 PWHL defender of the year finalists, Renata Fast, Sophie Jaques, and Claire Thompson.