WIth a fresh cycle of international hockey starting after February’s Olympic Games, various countries are taking the opportunity to introduce youth to their senior teams in preparation for 2030.

The United States is among the outliers but for good reason. In Milan, the Americans carried seven players that played in the NCAA during the 2025-26 season but that number dips to just one player on the world championships roster that is playing in the NCAA during the 2026-27 season. Six of those seven have now graduated to the PWHL, leaving just Joy Dunner still in college, but give the Americans plenty of youth to develop as they look to defend their Olympic gold in three and a half years.

Czechia spreads its seven collegiate players across four different conferences. The WCHA makes up the bulk of the group with four players, while the ECAC sends a pair and Hockey East adds the final player.

The bronze medal winners from Milan will send five NCAA players to the world championships, with Northeastern accounting for a pair while its conferencemates Holy Cross are also represented. The other two players on the Switzerland roster hail from the WCHA’s St. Cloud State and Minnesota State.

Austria rosters six collegiate players and are the only team to feature an NCAA Division III athlete. The five division one players come out of Hockey East, NEWHA, and the AHA.

United States

Joy Dunne is the lone active college player selected to the United States roster. This will be the third time the Ohio State captain has made the United State’s world championships roster, being selected in both 2024 and 2025, in addition to being a member of the 2026 Olympic gold medal squad, posting five points in Milan. This season for the Buckeyes, Dunne has scored eight goals and added eight assists across her first ten games. 

Czechia

Czechia is one of three countries to select seven NCAA players for the tournament tied for the most with both Finland and Sweden. The seven players hail from seven different universities, with three from both the ECAC and WCHA and one from Hockey East. 

Barbora Jurickova was already an Olympian before arriving at St. Lawrence, scoring a goal and assisting another in Milan. Jurickova started her tenure in the ECAC with three assists in eight games before departing for national team camp.

Aneta Senkova has taken a step forward in her second season with Clarkson, posting a 1.53 goals against average and a .929 save percentage. Šenková looks to add another medal to her collection after backstopping Czechia to a silver at the 2024 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship.

Few freshmen arrive on campus with an international resume as impressive as Colgate’s Linda Vocetkova, who has already appeared in the Olympics and has two medals at the U18 level to her name. Before making the move to the senior level ahead of the 2025-26 season, Vocetková accounted for 35 points in 41 games for Czechia’s U18 national team.

Daniela Novakova has impressed in limited action early in her St. Thomas career, stopping 43 of 44 starts during her two appearances so far this season. Novakova takes the step up to the senior level after being named the best goaltender at the 2025 IIHF U18 World Championships.

For the third consecutive tournament, Tereza Plosova finds a spot on Czechia’s roster. The sophomore appeared in the Olympics last season and posted nineteen points for Minnesota during her freshman season in 2025-26. 

Already a national team veteran at the age of 20, Adala Sapovalivova, prepares for her fifth IIHF World Championships and enters the tournament with 7 goals and 5 assists in 28 games at the event. Despite missing a stretch of games to participate in the Olympics, Sapovalivova posted 37 points, including two assists in the national championship, for Wisconsin as a freshman.

The lone Hockey East representative on the roster, Anezka Cabelova, prepares to play in her second world championship tournament after appearing in 7 games at the 2023 event. Cabelova has recorded a pair of assists this season for Boston University after scoring one goal and adding two assists as a freshman in 2025-26. 

Switzerland

Hockey East players will have an impact throughout Switzerland’s roster, with three players from the conference making the final roster. Alessia Baechler returns for her fifth consecutive world championship tournament and was a member of the bronze medal winning Olympic team this February. Baechler’s Northeastern teammate Ivana Way will join her at the tournament after starting her collegiate career with seven points in seven games. Naemi Herzig joins the pair of Huskies from Holy Cross, where the Crusaders’ alternate captain ranks second on the team with five points so far this season. 

Lucie Tenenbaum opting to play for Switzerland was a key dual-citizen recruitment win for head coach Shannon Miller in Switzerland, as the California-born defensewoman gets ready to make her world championships debut. Tenenbaum was a USA Hockey national champion with Bishop Kearney before spending a year in Switzerland with HC Davos and ultimately ending up in the WCHA with Minnesota State. Through seven games this season she’s posted a +/- of +4 and contributed a goal and a pair of assists for the Mavericks.   

One of the most experienced names on the roster, Laura Zimmermann heads to her seventh world championships after playing in her second Olympics this February. Zimmerman is in her fifth season with St. Cloud State and has posted fifteen points in each of the last two seasons.

Germany

Germany is one of two teams in the tournament to not feature an active NCAA player. Alexandra Boico is one of the top ranked recruits in her class and is committed to play for the University of Wisconsin next fall after completing her season with the Bishop Kearney Selects.

Austria

A diverse blend of college hockey talent is featured throughout Austria’s roster, with six active college players on the final roster, representing six schools, four conferences, and two divisions. 

Marja Linzbichler is the only NCAA Division III player to be selected for the world championships, representing Norwich University and the Little East Conference on the global stage. The senior captains the Cadets and posted eighteen points in the 2025-26 season. Linzbichler is already a veteran of the Austrian national team, making her debut back in 2021 during Olympic qualifiers.

Hockey East is well represented on the Austrian team, with Anna Billa of Holy Cross, Emma Pfeffer of Merrimack, and Emma Hofbauer of Providence set to feature. Billa captained Austria’s U18 team before arriving in Worcester and will add onto an impressive international resume that already features 20 senior international appearances. Emma Pfeffer switched her international allegiance before making her senior debut for Austria in Olympic Qualifier last year, she represented Sweden at the youth level, including the 2022 IIHF U18 World Championship. In addition to being the Friars’ alternate captain, Emma Hofbauer ranks third on the team in points and has been a key piece during a transition in leadership in the Providence program.

Laura Nagy has taken a step forward in her second season with the NEWHA’s LIU Sharks, already matching her point output from her freshman year. This will be the third world championships Nagy plays in, matching the amount of U18 world championships she participated in before arriving at Long Island.

One of the AHA’s top netminders will feature on Austria’s roster, with Mercyhurst’s Magdalena Luggin heading to the tournament. The junior has been named the conference’s goaltender of the week eight times and goaltender of the month twice across her career and won a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games for Austria.