Childhood dream comes true for Northeastern hockey player Alessia Baechler as she competes in Olympics for Swiss team
Husky teammates set to cheer on one of their own in Olympics
Husky teammates will be cheering for 20-year-old Alessia Baechler when the first-year student at Northeastern University takes to the ice Friday in Milan as a member of the Swiss women’s Olympic hockey team.
“It’s a childhood dream come true,” Baechler told Northeastern Global News in a written statement. “I’ve always wanted to compete in the Olympics, and now this is actually going to happen.”
Baechler’s Swiss team takes on the Czech Republic at 8:40 a.m. Eastern time Friday.
“It’s such a big deal. The team will have watch parties to watch Alessia on the world stage,” said Lindsay Berman, assistant coach for the women’s hockey team at Northeastern.
“We’re super pumped. We’re super excited,” said fourth-year student Jules Constantinople, who, like Baechler, plays defense.
The thrill started about a month ago when Baechler returned a call from a coach for the Swiss national team during a weightlifting session with her teammates. In the Good Game with Sarah Spain podcast, Baechler described her teammates watching through a window as she broke into smiles.
“So they immediately knew, and after the call ended, everybody was super happy and it was awesome,” said Baechler, who is staying in the Olympic village in Milan with a roommate from the Swiss team.
The players embraced Baechler in a big group hug, Berman said. “They just went nuts and were cheering.”
A resident of Illnau, Switzerland, Baechler has made her mark at Northeastern as a humble but fast and strong player who has earned the respect of teammates, Berman said.
While there are Northeastern graduates and also accepted students also competing in the Winter Olympics Milano Cortina 2026, Baechler is the only current student to hold that distinction.
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Since the Olympics only occur every four years, “it means even more than World Championships,” she said.
Despite her youth, Baechler already has represented the Swiss National Team at four International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships: 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Last year, she was named Best Defender in the Swiss Women’s Hockey League as a player for HC Davos, a top Swiss team.
And at an even younger age, she was named a Swiss Champion when she played with an under-17 boys team.
“It’s kind of crazy to think she’s as good as she is and she hasn’t come close to hitting her ceiling,” Berman said. She said Baechler is patient, doesn’t force turnovers and plays with her eyes up.
“She plays fast, but she’s able to slow the game down, which is a rare skill,” Berman said. “She knows where the puck is going before anyone else.”
Berman called Baechler a super modest player who “can’t really admit how good she is.”
“She’s the most humble person I’ve met,” Constantinople said. She said when teammates try to congratulate Baechler on a cool play, she’ll demur and say, “no, no, no” as if to shift attention away from herself.
Baechler is growing “a little more vocal” now, in addition to inspiring other players with her infectious energy and smiles, Berman said. During the last series of games before she left for Italy, the team faced the University of Connecticut. Baechler “played a ton of minutes” and spent her time on the bench cheering on her teammates to the win.
“She stayed in the moment,” Berman said.
Since the Swiss team is one of the top-five-ranked women’s hockey teams — the others are Canada, the U.S., Finland and the Czech Republic — Baechler and her teammates will automatically advance to the quarterfinals starting Feb. 13.
The Swiss women’s team will play its first game in a preliminary match against the Czech Republic on Friday, according to the Olympic schedule.
Baechler, whose brother Nicholas plays professional hockey for the ZSC Lions in Switzerland, is not the only player on the Swiss Olympic women’s hockey team with Northeastern connections. Joining her on the ice as forwards are Alina Mueller, a Northeastern graduate, and Ivana Wey, who is scheduled to start at Northeastern in the fall, Berman said.
The daughter of Michael and Carmela Baechler, Baechler told Northeastern Global News she can’t “wait for the games to finally start.” When it does, Berman said, Baechler has a built-in cheering section at Northeastern. “Our whole team is so excited for her.”
