Every Athlete Representing Boston College in the 2026 Winter Olympics: The Extra Point

The 2026 Winter Olympics, which will run from Feb. 6-22 and are stationed in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, feature a total of 238 NCAA athletes this year.

Of those 238, seven former Boston College student-athletes are participating — six for Team USA and one for Team Canada — and all play ice hockey.

BC is the 12th-most represented NCAA program in the Olympics this year regardless of sport, trailing behind Ohio State (13), Boston University (12), Minnesota (12), Clarkson (11), St. Cloud State (10), Maine (10), Dartmouth (9), Minnesota Duluth (9), Northeastern (9), and Vermont (8).

Of the seven Eagles that will represent the maroon and gold across the pond, two are on the men’s side and five are on the women’s.

For the U.S. women, that includes former BC women’s hockey players Cayla Barnes, Megan Keller, Hannah Bilke, and Alex Carpenter. Keller and Carpenter were also named assistant captains for Team USA.

Congratulations to our former @BC_WHockey greats Alex Carpenter '16 and Megan Keller '19, named alternate captains for Team @USAHockey 🇺🇸🦅

With 6️⃣ former @BCEagles on @TeamUSA, BC is second-most among all NCAA colleges represented at the #WinterOlympics🏅https://t.co/NFWoO2KDDW pic.twitter.com/Ot8cv2zGnT
— Boston College (@BostonCollege) February 3, 2026

The U.S. men’s national team includes former BC men’s hockey players Matt Boldy and Noah Hanafin, and BC’s one Team Canada player is Daryl Watts on the women’s side.

Here is a brief biography of each player, including their Olympic resume if they have already participated in the Games before:

Alex Carpenter | United States women's hockey

A Cambridge, Mass., native, Carpenter is the daughter of 18-year NHL star Bobby Carpenter and is a two-time former Olympian (2014 in Sochi, 2022 in Beijing). She captured silver medals in both years.

Carpenter attended BC from 2011-16 and left the program as the career leader in points, goals, and assists.

During her junior season, in 2024-25, Carpenter led the NCAA in goals (37), assists (44), and points (81). She was named the Hockey East Player of the Year and won the Patty Kazmaier Award — given to the top women’s ice hockey player in the NCAA annually — becoming the first Eagle and the first player from Hockey East to claim the honor.

Carpenter raised those statistics her senior year with 88 points in 41 games on 43 goals and 45 assists, guiding BC to the 2016 Frozen Four Championship after seizing Hockey East Tournament Most Valuable Player honors. She was a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award once again.

The first overall pick in the 2015 NWHL Draft, Carpenter spent four seasons in China after playing one for the Boston Pride. She has since returned to the U.S. and is a current forward in the PWHL for the Seattle Torrent.

In addition to her two silver Olympic medals, Carpenter has won 10 medals in World Championships — seven gold and three silver.

Megan Keller | United States women's hockey

A defenseman out of Farmington, Mich., and a member of the PWHL’s Boston Fleet, Keller represented the U.S. in the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, where she won a gold medal, and in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

Keller played four seasons on the Heights from 2014-19 and was named the Hockey East Player of the Year as a senior (2018-19), including a top three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award.

She set single-season records for points and goals scored by a defender (41 points on 18 goals and 23 assists) and holds the record for conference career and single-season points for her position.

Keller has earned a spot on 10 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women’s World Championship teams, including four Four Nations Cups U.S. rosters.

Cayla Barnes | United States women's hockey

Barnes, who comes from Eastvale, Calif., played in four seasons for the Eagles before transferring to Ohio State for the 2023-24 season, where she became a national champion.

A former New Hampton School standout who is currently a member of the PWHL’s Seattle franchise, Barnes was a finalist for Hockey East Player of the Year as a redshirt sophomore in 2019-20, an ACHA Second Team All-American and Hockey East First Team All-Star as a redshirt junior in 2020-21, and was drafted fifth overall in the 2024 PWHL Draft by Montreal.

Barnes was a member of the gold-medal U.S. Olympic team in 2018, as well as the silver-medal team in 2022, which makes this year her third Olympic appearance.

She has previously served on seven IIHF Women’s World Championship teams and has helped Team USA to two Four Nations Cups, including first place in 2018.

Hannah Bilka | United States women's hockey

A 2001-born forward from Coppell, Texas, Bilka — similarly to Barnes — spent her first four NCAA seasons in Chestnut Hill, Mass., before playing for the Buckeyes’ 2024 National Championship squad.

She was named First Team All-WCHA that year, in which she paced the offense with 48 points (22 goals, 26 assists) — including the game-winning assist in the 2024 NCAA title game.

This will be Bilka’s first Olympic appearance, but she is additionally a two-time World Championship team member for the U.S., winning gold in 2023 and silver in 2022.

In 2022-23, Bilka led BC in points with 41, including assists (29). Before her collegiate career, she helped Shattuck St. Mary’s advance to the Tier I U-19 national championship in 2018 and a runner-up finish in 2019.

Daryl Watts | Canada women's hockey

Watts became the first player in NCAA women’s ice hockey history to win the Patty Kazmaier Award as a freshman after leading the nation with 82 points in her first campaign with the Eagles (2017-18). After her sophomore year, she transferred to Wisconsin to finish out her final two collegiate seasons.

She found immediate success with the Badgers, leading the NCAA in points and assists before being named a co-captain in 2020-21, in which Wisconsin captured the 2021 National Championship.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, this will be Watts’ first Olympic appearance. She made her Canadian women’s national team debut at the IIHF World Championship in 2025, however, where she scored four goals en route to a silver medal.

Watts ended her collegiate career with the second-most points registered in NCAA history (297).

Matt Boldy | United States men's hockey

A Milford, Mass., native and United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP) product, Boldy opted to end his BC career early after finishing the shortened 2020-21 season (Covid-19) as a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the top NCAA male player in the country, in which he led the Eagles with 11 goals and 20 assists in 22 games.

In March of 2021, the 6-foot-2, 201-pound forward signed a three-year, entry-level deal with the Minnesota Wild — the team that selected him No. 12 overall in the 2019 NHL Draft — where he has become a focal point of the franchise.

In January 2023, Boldly signed a seven-year, $49 million contract extension with the Wild. He has generated 29 goals and 29 assists in 53 games this season, including 302 points (131 goals, 171 assists) in 338 games played so far throughout his professional career.

The 2026 Olympics in Milan Cortina will mark his first appearance in the Games.

Noah Hanifin | United States men's hockey

Hailing from Norwood, Mass., Hanifin is a current defenseman for the Las Vegas Golden Knights who came to BC in 2014-15 as a 17-year old, which made him the second-youngest player in program history.

The Carolina Hurricanes’ 2015 first-round draft pick (No. 5 overall) played in 37 games during his sole campaign with the Eagles, bolstering the backline with five goals and 18 assists. He was voted a Hockey East Second Team All-Star and was tabbed a unanimous selection to the Hockey East Pro Ambitions All-Rookie Team.

Before his brief tenure on the Heights, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound defenseman helped Team USA’s U-18 national squad win a gold medal at the 2014 IIHF World U-18 Championships.

Hanifin has also represented Team USA at the 2015 World Junior Championships, the 2015 World Junior Championship, and the 2017 World Championship, but this will be his first time in the Olympics.