The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 Ice Hockey tournament group stage concludes on Sunday, and the San Jose Sharks have made their mark.

Four Sharks players represented their home nations during the Olympics: Macklin Celebrini, Pavol Regenda, Alexander Wennberg, and Philipp Kurashev.

Macklin Celebrini

Remember, he’s just 19 years old. The San Jose Sharks’ No. 1 center has been the perfect wingman for Connor McDavid as the two lead the tournament in points. McDavid has nine points (two goals, seven assists) and Celebrini has six points (four goals, two assists) in three games.

After already being named as the youngest player on an NHL Players Olympic Roster for Canada, Celebrini made more history during Team Canada’s 10-2 rout over France. The Sharks centerman had two goals and an assist in the game, with one goal being scored on a penalty shot.

Celebrini is the first NHL player to score a penalty shot in the Olympics, and put Team Canada up 5-1 at the time of scoring.

Canada head coach Jon Cooper told reporters after the game that he wasn’t thinking about changing Celebrini as the shooter. During IIHF play, a team can pick any player on their playing roster.

“[Everyone] turned around and looked at me at said, ‘Oh, what are you going to do now coach?’ “As I see Celebrini doing circles…I would’ve been booed out of the building if I didn’t let him shoot it.”

At 19, Celebrini is demonstrating he’s already one of the best players, not just in the NHL, but around the globe. Nathan MacKinnon and other top Canadian players have showered the Sharks center with compliments.

Alexander Wennberg

With Alexander Wenneberg making Team Sweden, the San Jose Sharks have their top two centers representing their home country. Sweden’s group stage has been bumpy at times, but overall successful.

Sweden finished third in Group B with a 2-1-0-0 record. Wennberg hasn’t recorded a point, but played a valuable role in the defensive zone.

There was controversy vs. Slovakia, as Sweden pulled their goalie while winning 5-2 on Saturday. Due to the group stage rules, goal differential becomes a big tiebreaker. Unfortunately for Sweden, Slovakia scored, securing a 5-3 win and securing the group.

Because of the goal differential tiebreaker, Finland earned second place and could get the all-important 4th and final spot for a bye directly into the quarter finals.

Pavol Regenda

San Jose Sharks winger Pavol Regenda and Team Slovakia have been the surprise of the 2026 Winter Olympics. Arguably the most Olympic-experienced team, Slovakia has attracted significant fan support and is a team to watch.

Almost no one predicted Regenda’s country to win a group that included Sweden and Finland, yet here we are.

Through the three games, the Sharks winger has one assist and seven shots on goal. Playing on a familiar line that he did during the 2022 Olympic Games, where Slovakia earned a bronze medal.

Phlipp Kurashev

Philipp Kurashev returned to the Sharks lineup just in time for the Olympics. Canada has led group A, but Switzerland has held its own. Their only loss came against the Canadians, and they finished group stage play with a 1-1-0-1 record. They defeated Czechia in overtime on Sunday.

Kurashev has one assist in the three games while playing in a familiar middle-six role. As stated above, Finland will likely earn the No. 4 seed in the overall rankings, granting them a bye to the quarterfinals. Switzerland will wait until its seeding is finalized after Team USA plays Germany in the final group-stage game.

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