Despite finishing seventh in their first Olympic women's hockey tournament back in 2022, the final performance doesn't exactly tell the full story of Czechia's run at that year's competition.
In the group stage, Czechia finished with a record of 2-0-1-1 (regulation win, overtime win, overtime loss, regulation loss). Their two wins took the form of 3-1 decisions against China and Sweden, the overtime loss was a 3-2 decision against Japan, while their lone regulation loss in the round robin was a 3-2 final against Denmark.
During the preliminary round, Czechia scored ten goals while conceding eight. They also dominated the shot count in each of their four group games, winning such a metric by at least ten each time. In all, Czechia was able to secure a second-place finish in Group B with a total of seven points in the standings.
While Czechia would bow out of the tournament in the quarterfinal round as a result of a 4-1 loss to the United States, they were able to hold a brief lead against the Americans while also staying level in the scoreline for about forty-five of the sixty minutes of play.
Can Czechia find a way to match their performance from 2022? Let's take a look at their roster and then try to determine their chances.
Czechia features a stacked roster on the front and back end
It's possible to describe the roster assembled by Ottawa Charge head coach Carla MacLeod as offensively-loaded and defensively-experienced.
Why do I say that? I'll delve into the individual stats more when I talk about Czechia's X-Factors, but the forward group is generally capable of scoring a point every two games. Defensively, the goaltending is set to remain constant from Czechia's run of form over the past few years, while the likes of Aneta Tejralová are more than capable of providing some big game experience. In fact, Tejralová was part of the Ottawa Charge's run to the PWHL championship round last year before joining the expansion side Seattle Torrent prior to the start of the 2025-26 season.
While just under a third of the Czech roster for the 2026 Olympic women's hockey tournament plays their club hockey in the PWHL, there is about a 50-50 split between PWHL and non-PWHL experience in the forward group.
Of the remaining fifteen players, eleven play their club hockey in Europe while four are enrolled in collegiate hockey programs in the United States.
These women have an edge most rivals can’t copy
Since their debut at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Czechia's women's hockey team has had arguably the best four-year stretch in its existence. Over that span, the team made it to the bronze medal game of the Women's World Hockey Championship in each of the four editions to take place following the Beijing Games; Czechia would win bronze on two of those occasions. At the time, their first bronze (2022) marked the nation's best-ever result at the tournament, having previously finished as high as sixth, which they achieved in their first appearance since promotion and in the 2019 running of the tournament.
If the roster can play to the same level that they did throughout those four editions of the tournament, then they should easily be a tough out for any of their four group stage opponents. They still have a ways to go before they can consistently contend with the world's top teams, but the last four years have been promising for the Czechs. If they show that those four year's weren't an anomaly and perform to a similar level at this year's tournament, they will do well.
This probably isn't their year
Even though this is a very strong Czech team, the team does unfortunately find itself placed in a group with both Canada and the United States, in addition to Finland and Switzerland.
There is a world in which Czechia could finish as high as third, and I would not be surprised if it did indeed take place. However, two of the first three games do come against Canada and the United States; losing both by hefty margins would immediately put Czechia at a huge disadvantage. I do see the Czechs salvaging a point, but they will have to hope they find some success in the knockout round.