NHL players arrive in Milan, returning to the Winter Olympics after a 12-year absence

MILAN — Lukas Dostal was in a rush to get to the Olympics. Earlier this week, the Czech goaltender became the first NHL player to take the ice for practice with his national team.

''What would I do in Anaheim, shoot the puck to the boards and try to stop it myself? It probably wouldn't really work," Dostal said.

He is no longer alone, as the rest of the players from the best hockey league in the world arrived in Milan on Sunday. Fresh off flying from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, the top contenders from the U.S. and Canada to Sweden, Finland and Czechia all took the ice for their first practices at the Olympics.

"It's crazy to think about now we're here," said Auston Matthews, who was named U.S. captain after practice. ''It definitely hits you once you touch down and get to the Olympic village and get settled in, just how special and cool it is to be here.''

Dostal and about a dozen others arranged transportation to get to Italy a couple of days earlier, including Canada's Connor McDavid, Germany's Leon Draisaitl, Czechia's David Pastrnak and a quartet of Americans.

Charlie McAvoy, Zach Werenski, Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman marched in the opening ceremony with the rest of the U.S. delegation at San Siro stadium, as did Switzerland's Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Jonas Siegenthaler. Swayman called taking part ''an out of body experience.''

Draisaitl and Pastrnak were among the seven men's hockey players who served as their nation's flag bearer.

Almost all the players and coaches experiencing the newly built arena gave it rave reviews, though the joy of finally getting to the Olympics almost certainly contributed to that rosy first impression.

''Great, honestly," Sweden forward Mika Zibanejad said. ''I don't have anything negative to say. I've been just so stoked to be able to be part of Olympics.''

There's a reason for that. This is the first Olympics with NHL players in a dozen years, dating to Sochi in 2014, after the league opted not to participate in 2018 and pandemic-related scheduling issues caused an eleventh-hour change of plans in 2022.

That gap means an entire generation of stars, including McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel, have never represented their country on this international stage. This is the first so-called best-on-best tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, but even that had a couple of made-up teams — North Americans 23-and-under and then Europeans from various countries not included — to keep McDavid and MacKinnon from playing with two-time gold medalists Sidney Crosby, Drew Doughty and others.

The talk about doing so became reality skating on Sunday.

Following weeks, if not months, of concerns about the quality of the ice, it was clear the surface wasn't perfect. But it'll more than do given the circumstances.

''The ice was a little bit beat up when we were practicing today, but there have been a lot of teams on it,'' U.S. coach Mike Sullivan said. "At the end of the day, both teams got to play on the same surface, so we're thrilled to be here and we love every minute of it.''

Play gets underway Wednesday, and the U.S. and Canada open the tournament Thursday, so teams have a little bit of time to coalesce on and off the ice. But first, all the travel means the need for some rest.

''It feels like it's been a long day," U.S. forward Jack Hughes said. "Really exciting to finally get over here and just be a part of it.''

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