Two games, two wins for Zach Werenski and the United States in Group C preliminary round play after a 6-3 victory over Denmark on Feb. 14 at Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, Italy.
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Improving to 2-0-0-0 at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, the U.S. and Werenski overcame some early misfortune on a goal that gave Denmark (0-0-0-2) a quick 1-0 lead 1:40 into the game. Nick Olesen scored it after the puck hit Werenski while defending in front of U.S. goalie Jeremy Swayman, who won despite allowing three goals on 21 shots in a shaky start.
Werenski, who skated 18:12 on the third defensive pairing, made up for his poor luck by making a nice play in the Denmark zone that led to a key goal by forward Jake Guentzel to give the U.S. a 5-3 lead at 7:24 of the third period. Werenski, who finished with four shots, was initially awarded a secondary assist to go with Auston Matthew's primary helper, but International Olympic Committee scoring judges took it away for an unknown reason.
Werenski has one assist while playing significantly reduced minutes for the U.S. in comparison to the role he plays for the Blue Jackets that has placed him among the top two of three defensemen in the NHL the past two years in goals, points, points per game and ice time.
He'll now get a quick rest and return to Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on Feb. 15 to conclude Group C play in the preliminary round with a matchup against Germany (1-0-1-0), which was stunned in a 4-3 upset loss to Latvia on Feb. 14 at Milano Rho Ice Arena.
Germany can finish first in Group C with a regulation win, since the first tiebreaker is head-to-head, so the U.S. will need either a win in any fashion or overtime loss to finish first and gain the group's automatic placement in the quarterfinal round.
The top teams from each of three groups plus the highest-ranked second place team, as determined by goal differential, advance straight to the quarterfinals. The other eight teams will be seeded in a playoff round played Feb. 17 to determine the other four quarterfinalists.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at [email protected] and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Zach Werenski, U.S. top Denmark at 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics