Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
America’s men’s hockey team went undefeated in group play at the Winter Olympics, which included a 6-3 win over Denmark. Jeremy Swayman gave up a pretty brutal goal during that contest that was seemingly linked to the color of the boards, and officials have opted for a half measure in an attempt to prevent a similar situation from unfolding during the tournament.
The United States headed to the 2026 Winter Olympics with a formidable squad of NHL players who were seemingly on a collision course to meet Canada in the gold medal game. That journey officially commenced in the group play stage, where Team USA wasn’t expected to have any trouble against Latvia, Germany, or Denmark.
The Americans earned a bye to the quarterfinals after going 3-0 in those contests, and they didn’t really have much trouble dispatching the opponents they collectively outscored 16-5.
No team was able to put up more of a fight than Denmark, which was still firmly outmatched in a 6-3 loss. However, one of those tallies had seemingly no business going in, as Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman was unable to stop a shot Nicholas Jensen fired from center ice to give his squad a 2-1 lead midway through the first period.
DENMARK SCORES FROM CENTER ICE. 🤯#WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/jELsaAl6Fb
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 14, 2026
All signs pointed to the colors of the boards playing a role in the goal, and officials have seemingly acknowledged that was the case after rolling out a fix that still leaves a bit to be desired.
The hockey boards at the Winter Olympics were replaced with lighter colors after Jeremany Swayman gave up a goal from center ice
Swayman shed some light on what happened in the wake of the contest while breaking down the shot he failed to stop, saying, “It was just the perfect height, right between the stands and board level. I truly lost it.” However, he implied the hue of the boards wasn’t a huge factor, adding, “I’m colorblind, so it doesn’t matter to me.”
It’s not entirely clear what brand of color blindness Swayman has, and while I’m certainly not an ophthalmologist, it seems like a goalie is going to have trouble tracking a black puck against a dark background even if they have perfect vision; there’s a reason the boards in the NHL (and virtually every other major league) are primarily white.
Swayman may have stopped short of calling for a change to the boards, but according to Elliotte Friedman, officials at the Winter Olympics nonetheless decided to swap out the original design for one featuring lighter colors.
Lighter-colour rinkboard wraps in-place pic.twitter.com/DxLln1eTVF
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 17, 2026
They are still decidedly not white, which is a fairly interesting decision but one that lines up with the branding at past iterations of the Winter Olympics.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see if it’s able to prevent another Swayman situation from unfolding.