The 2022 winter olympics are here! Like many of you, I’m following the hockey action! I am not as familiar with all of the teams in the tournament as I would like to be. I’ve been researching each olympic roster, so I can more closely follow the action. Have you ever wondered where all of the players from each nation come from? I have! I tried to find a list that would show me which North American and European leagues and teams sent players to the olympics. This information seems to be skattered throughout the internet and no amount of searching provided me with an easy to read list; so, I’ve decided to compile one for us all to enjoy. I did my best to compile this accurately, but because I’m not familiar with all of the European, or even North American leagues, I cannot guarantee that this is perfect. If you spot any errors, please don’t hesitate to contact me through my Twitter or Instagram and let me know! I’m always happy to correct any mistakes I make. For clarity, this post only covers olympic men’s hockey. I’m working on a similar league and team breakdown for the women, and it will be posted soon. Enjoy and thank you for reading!

North America and NCAA

Many of us are familiar with the leagues operating in North America. The AHL, WHL and OHL all sent players to the olympics. There are also quite a few NCAA athletes participating.

AHL

• The Bakersfield Condors, Iowa Wild Toronto Marlies and Utica Comets all have 1 player competing for Canada.
• The Providence Bruins have 1 player competing for the USA.

Other leagues

• Hamilton Bulldogs OHL 1–Canada
• Seattle Thunderbirds WHL 1–Slovakia

NCAA

• The Boston College Eagles and Michigan Wolverines each have 3 players in Beijing. They play for Canada and the USA.
• The Minnesota Golden Gophers have 3 players on Team USA.
• The Harvard Crimson and St. Cloud State Huskies each have 2 players competing for the USA.
• Schools who sent only 1 player to Team USA are The Boston University Terriers, Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Minnesota Duluth bulldogs, Minnesota State Mavericks and North Dakota Fighting Hawks.
• The Northeastern Huskies have 1 athlete on team Canada.

KHL

The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is widely considered one of the best leagues in the world second only to the NHL. The KHL sent 97 players to the Olympics and has 22 of the league’s 24 teams represented there. My favorite KHL team is my hometown Helsinki Jokerit! The Chinese team is comprised entirely of players from Kunlun Red Star, making them the most heavily represented team. I’ll be writing a post later this week about the fascinating story that is Kunlun Red Star and Chinese hockey!

• Kunlun Red Star: 25 players–China.
• CSKA Moscow: 10 players–Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), Sweden.
• jokerit Helsinki: 10 players–Canada, Czech, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, USA.
• Dinamo Riga: 9 players–Latvia.
• SKA St. Petersburg: 9 players–Canada, Finland, ROC, Sweden.
• Avangard Omsk: 7 players–Canada, Czech, Finland, ROC, Slovakia.
• AK Bars Kazan: 6 players–Canada, ROC, USA.
• Metallurg Magnitogorsk: 5 player–Finland, ROC, Sweden.
• Traktor Chelyabinsk: 5 players–Czech, ROC.
• Admiral Vladovostok: 4 players–Czech, Latvia.
• Lokomotiv Yaroslavl: 4 players–Canada, ROC.
• Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod: 4 players–Slovakia, Sweden, USA.
• Dynamo Moscow: 3 players–Canada, ROC.
• Dinamo Minsk: 3 players–Slovakia, Sweden.
• Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk: 3 players–Czech, Finland.
• HC Vityaz and Salavat Yulaev Ufa have 3 players each on team Finland.
• Sibir Novosibirsk: 3 players–Finland, Slovakia, USA.
• Amur Khabarovsk: 2 players–Czech.
• HC Sochi: 2 players–Latvia, Sweden.
• Spartak Moscow: 2 players–Czech, ROC.
• Barys Nur-Sultan: 1 player–Slovakia.

SM Liiga

After the NHL and KHL, the Finnish SM Liiga, commonly known as simply Liiga, is the league I am most familiar with. It is Finland’s top league and many Finns who play in the NHL and KHL begin their careers in Liiga. There are 5 teams represented in Beijing.

• Mikkelin Jukurit: 2 players–Denmark, Latvia.
• Oulun Kärpät: 2 players–Finland.
• HPK and TPS both contributed 1 player to team Slovakia.
• Lahti Pelicans: 1 player–Czech.

SHL

Sweden’s top league is the SHL. They have 11 teams represented in the Olympics.

• Frölunda HC: 4 players–Canada, Czech, Sweden.
• IK Oskarshamn: 4 players–Czech, Sweden, USA.
• Skellefteå AIK: 4 players–Germany, Sweden, USA.
• Färjestad BK: 3 players–Sweden.
• Malmö Redhawks: 3 players–Denmark.
• Växjö Lakers HC: 3 players–Germany, Latvia, Sweden.
• Brynäs IF: 2 players–Denmark, Latvia.
• Rögle BK: 2 players–Canada, Sweden.
• Linköping HC and Timrå IK have 1 player each on Denmark’s team.
• örebro HK: 1 players–Latvia.

Swiss National League (NL)

The Swiss league is well represented at the Olympics with over 50 players participating. Most notably, former NHLers Valtteri Filppula and Sami Vatanen are competing for team Finland. Both players currently play for Geneve-Servette HC.

• EV Zug: 8 players–Czech, Sweden, Swiss
• Zurich Lions; 7 players–Canada, Sweden, Swiss.
• Genève-Servette HC: 6 players–Canada, Finland, Latvia, Sweden, Swiss.
• HC Davos: 5 players–Czech, Slovakia, Sweden, Swiss.
• Fribourg-Gottéron: 5 players–Canada, Sweden, Swiss.
• HC Lugan: 5 players–Canada, Denmark, Swiss.
• Lausanne HC: 4 players: Czech, Latvia, Slovakia, Swiss.
• SC Bern: 4 players–Germany, Latvia, Swiss.
• EHC Biel: 3 players–Finland, Swiss.
• HC Ambrì-Piotta: 3 players–Denmark, Finland, Swiss.
• SCL Tigers: 2 players–Finland, Latvia.
• Rapperswil-Jona Lakers: 1 players–Czech.

Deutsche Eishockey Liga Del (Germany)

The DEL is Germany’s top league and has 10 teams represented in Beijing. I was surprised by the number of players from the DEL that made it to the Olympics!

• Adler Mannheim: 6 players–Germany.
• EHC Red Bull München: 6 players–Canada, Germany.
• Eisbären Berlin: 6 players–Denmark, Germany.
• ERC Ingolstadt: 4 players–Denmark, Germany, USA.
• Kölner Haie: 3 players–Canada, Germany.
• Krefeld Pinguine: 2 players–Denmark, Latvia.
• Düsseldorfer EG, Grizzlys Wolfsburg and Straubing Tigers each have 1 player on team Germany.
• Fishtown Pinguins: 1 player–Denmark.

Extraliga

Eight teams in the Czech top league sent players to the olympics.

• Oceláři Třinec: 4 players–Czech, Slovakia.
• Kometa Brno: 3 players–Slovakia.
• HC Olomouc: 2 players–Czech, Slovakia.
• Sparta Praha: 2 players–Czech.
• HC Plzeň: 1 player–Slovakia.
• HC Sškoda Plzeň and HC Verva Litvínov both sent 1 player each to team Latvia.
• Mladá Boleslav: 1 player–Slovakia.

International Central European Hockey League (ICEHL)

The ICEHL has teams located in Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia. The league is based in austria and is represented by players from 5 teams.

• EC KAC, the Vienna Capitals and HC Pustertal Wölfe each contributed 1 player to team Denmark.
• EC VSV and Black Wings Linz 1992 have 1 player each competing for Latvia.

Metal Ligaen

Denmark’s top league has players from 5 teams all playing for Denmark.

• The Herning Blue Fox sent 2 players to Beijing, and The Aalborg Pirates, Frederikshavn White Hawks, Herlev Eagles and Sønderjyske icehockey are all represented by just 1 player.

Tipos Extraliga

Slovakia has a rich international hockey tradition. Interestingly, it’s top league only sent players to Beijing from 4 teams, all players compete for team Slovakia.

• HK Nitra sent 2 players while HC Dukla Michalovce, HKM Zvolen and Slovan Bratislava sent 1 player each.

Sweden First Division

Interestingly, there appears to be a player competing for team Denmark from one of Sweden’s first division teams. kristianstads IK. This team is not in the SHL.

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