Kenny Albert Returns as NBC Olympics’ Hockey Play-By-Play Announcer for Record 7th Winter Games
Albert to Call Team USA Men’s and Women’s Games and Medal Rounds Alongside Eddie Olczyk (Men’s Analyst), AJ Mleczko (Women’s Analyst), Brian Boucher (Men’s “Inside the Glass”), Jen Botterill (Women’s “Inside the Glass”), and Kathryn Tappen (Reporter)
Brendan Burke and Chris Vosters to Handle Hockey Play-by-Play for Men’s and Women’s Tournaments; Anson Carter, T.J. Oshie, and Angela Ruggiero to Serve as Analysts
NHL Players Return to Winter Games for First Time since 2014
Primetime Coverage of the Winter Olympics Begins Feb. 6 on NBC and Peacock
STAMFORD, Conn. – October 9, 2025 – NBC Olympics today announced its hockey commentators for the XXV Olympic Winter Games in Italy, which includes former NBC Sports NHL commentators Kenny Albert, Eddie Olczyk, AJ Mleczko, Brian Boucher, Kathryn Tappen, and Anson Carter. Coverage of the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games begins with the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 6, 2026, on NBC and Peacock.
Kenny Albert returns to call Team USA men’s and women’s games, the medal rounds of both tournaments, and additional matchups – marking his U.S. record seventh Winter Games as a hockey play-by-play voice. Albert and iconic play-by-play voice Mike “Doc” Emrick have each called hockey at six Winter Games.
Albert will be joined in the booth for men’s games by longtime partner Eddie Olczyk, a 1984 U.S. Olympian and U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer. Albert and Olczyk, who have called three NHL Stanley Cup Finals together, will be paired for the medal rounds for the second consecutive Winter Games. Milan Cortina marks Olczyk’s fifth NBC Olympics assignment. Brian Boucher returns for his third consecutive Winter Games with NBC Olympics, providing analysis from “Inside the Glass.”
Albert, Olczyk, and Boucher are part of Turner Sports’ coverage of the NHL, which is sending players to the Olympic Winter Games for the first time since 2014.
In her fourth consecutive Winter Games hockey assignment (and seventh overall with NBC Olympics), Kathryn Tappen serves as an on-site reporter for Team USA men’s and women’s games, medal-round competition, and additional matchups. Tappen, the sideline reporter for NBC Sports’ Big Ten Saturday Night college football package on NBC and Peacock, also serves as a host on NHL Network and a reporter for Turner Sports’ coverage of the NHL.
Two-time Olympic medalist AJ Mleczko, a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame as part of the gold-medal winning 1998 U.S. team, joins Albert in the booth for women’s games in her eighth assignment for NBC Olympics. Jen Botterill, a three-time Olympic gold medalist with Team Canada, makes her NBC Olympics debut in February, serving as “Inside the Glass” analyst for women’s games beginning with the quarterfinals. Next month, she will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
“The men’s and women’s hockey tournaments are among the most anticipated sports at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics,” said Molly Solomon, Executive Producer, NBC Olympics. “With the NHL returning to the Games and resumption of the best rivalries in sports – USA vs. Canada, on the men’s and women’s sides – we have assembled a hugely talented announce team to cover the Olympic tournament. We can’t wait for February.”
Brendan Burke and Chris Vosters will also handle play-by-play in the men’s and women’s hockey tournament, marking their respective third and fourth NBC Olympics assignments. Burke and Vosters will be joined by analysts including: 11-year NHL veteran Anson Carter, a two-time gold medalist with Canada in the World Championships (1997, 2003), in his third NBC Olympics assignment; T.J. Oshie, a 16-year NHL veteran who scored four times in six attempts to lead the U.S. to a memorable 3-2 shootout victory over Russia in pool play at the 2014 Sochi Olympic, in his NBC Olympics debut; and Angela Ruggiero, a four-time Olympic medal winner with Team USA and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015, in her second NBC Olympics assignment. Burke and Carter also work on the NHL on TNT, while Mleczko and Oshie are part of ESPN’s coverage of the NHL.
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With unique and unforgettable backdrops throughout northern Italy, the 2026 Winter Olympics will span from Milan to Cortina with events taking place across multiple venues and regions. This will be the second time the Olympics are held in Cortina (1956 Winter Olympics) and the fourth time overall that Italy has hosted an Olympic Games (1960 Rome Olympics and 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, which is the last time there was a Winter Games in the Central European Time Zone).
In February, NBCU announced that the NBC broadcast network and streaming service Peacock will be the company’s primary platforms for its coverage of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, scheduled for Feb. 6-22, 2026. Click here for more programming information and here for information about the Paralympics, which will take place March 6-15, 2026.
NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2036, which are scheduled for Milan Cortina (2026), Los Angeles (2028), French Alps (2030), Brisbane (2032), Salt Lake City (2034), and the 2036 Summer Games.
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–MILAN CORTINA WINTER OLYMPICS–
