In an appearance on his friend Carmelo Anthony’s “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast filmed last weekend, Paul addressed the circumstances of his Clippers exit. The podcast posted only part of the interview on social media as of Tuesday night, but Paul’s comments painted a picture of a relationship that went from friendly to contentious at rapid speed.
As Paul tells it, he reached out to both Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank to signal his interest in finishing his career in Los Angeles, where he was a five-time All-Star.
The reunion made for a nice story. No one expected Paul to replicate his old numbers with the Clippers, but at worst he could give them depth at point guard while supplying veteran experience, cementing his legacy as one of the franchise’s greats and playing near his Los Angeles-based family.
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It was apparently going according to plan at one point in the season, as Paul claimed Frank praised his leadership:
“Earlier in the season, Lawrence Frank sent me an article about how great my leadership was, an article I had never seen. He texted it to me saying, ‘Man, this is great leadership right here.’”
However, as we learned in the aftermath of Paul’s benching, there were apparently some major communication issues involving Paul and Lue. The pair reportedly clashed over Paul’s attempts to provide his own guidance to members of the team and coach and player were allegedly not on speaking terms by the end, though Lue has denied that latter part.
Paul, however, confirmed that some members of the Clippers organization didn’t want him giving players advice:
“During training camp, I talked to one of my teammates for a while and then, as soon as I went in the meal room, somebody came and told me they didn’t want me giving players advice. So I told them, ‘You were my assistant coach, I know you.’ But it was a lot of back-and-forth.”
Paul is possibly referring to Lue with that “I know you” line, as Lue was an assistant on the Clippers coaching staff during Paul’s first tenure there.
Chris Paul’s second tenure did not go as well as his first. (Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)
(David Jensen via Getty Images)
When the subject of the Clippers retiring Paul’s jersey number came up — which would be highly awkward anytime in the near future — Paul said that Frank actually said his number should be retired … before dropping the ax. He also indicated Frank neglected to set up a meeting with Lue, indicating there might be something to the reports they weren’t talking:
“[Frank] said that to me before he sent me home. … Before I left the room, I asked him, ‘So L-Frank, you said you was gonna get me a meeting with T-Lue, right?’ He said, ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t do that. Go home.’”
There’s no telling what Paul’s relationship with the Clippers will be going forward. The team posted a tribute video for him after he announced his retirement, so there might be a willingness to bury the hatchet on their side already, but no one’s going to blame Paul for keeping them at arm’s length as long as the current leadership is in place.
Former Michigan football head coach Sherrone Moore will get an evidentiary hearing next month.
A judge granted Moore’s motion for the hearing Tuesday, which will allow his lawyer to challenge the basis for his arrest in their quest to have the case thrown out, according to The Athletic. That hearing is currently set for March 2.
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Moore’s attorney argued in court Tuesday that a detective did not disclose that the alleged victim in the case had worked closely with him within the Michigan football program. That, his attorney argued, presented a one-sided picture that was used to establish probable cause for his arrest in the first place.
“Judge Simpson got it right in this motion, and due process matters,” Moore’s attorney Ellen Michaels said. “Coach Moore maintains his innocence, and the truth will come out.”
Moore was fired in December and then arrested hours later in a massive scandal. The university fired him for cause after it said he “engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.” He was eventually charged with third-degree home invasion, stalking, and breaking and entering. Officials said Moore grabbed butter knives and kitchen scissors at the woman’s house after he was fired and threatened to take his own life.
In court Tuesday, Michaels argued that a detective told a court magistrate only that the alleged victim had been in a romantic relationship with Moore, not that the alleged victim also worked for the Michigan football program and needed to communicate with Moore regularly. That meant that repeated communication from Moore to the alleged victim, Michaels argued, may not actually constitute stalking.
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Michigan reportedly received a tip in October that Moore had been in a relationship with the alleged victim, though they initially denied it. Officials then said the woman broke up with Moore and came forward to the university in December to reveal the yearslong relationship.
Prosecutor Kati Rezmierski argued Tuesday that disclosing the working relationship would not have altered the underlying facts that justified Moore’s arrest, per the report. Rezmierski cited messages that Moore sent after his firing, including allegedly, “I hate you,” and “My blood is on your hands,” as evidence of the stalking.
“On Dec. 10, as was sworn to by detective Welker, there is more than sufficient probable cause for the issuance of a warrant that includes stalking,” Rezmierski said. “That’s my position.”
Moore had been Michigan’s offensive coordinator under previous head coach Jim Harbaugh, though he was promoted to take over for Harbaugh before the 2024 season. He spent two seasons as the team’s head coach. Michigan has since hired Kyle Whittingham as its next head coach.
Los Angeles Lakers center Deandre Ayton was detained and quickly released on Tuesday on suspicion of possessing a small amount of marijuana at Lynden Pindling International Airport in the Bahamas, according to Reuters.
Ayton would have been returning to the United States from his native Bahamas as the All-Star break nears its end.
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In an initial report from TMZ, the central division of the Royal Bahamas Police Force claimed Ayton was searched after he was spotted smoking marijuana at the airport. Reuters also reports Ayton was found with the drug, which is still illegal in the Bahamas.
However, his lawyer Devard Francis said the suspected marijuana was actually in someone else’s bag and that Ayton was never arrested or charged, via Reuters:
“The investigators saw that the actual very small amount of marijuana wasn’t in Deandre’s bag, but they still went through their investigations and he was released expeditiously,” Francis said.
Ayton, a former No. 1 overall pick, is in his first season with the Lakers, who signed him to a two-year, $16.6 million deal. He entered the All-Star break averaging 13.2 points on 67.5% shooting and a team-high 8.5 rebounds per game.
MILAN — It happens every Winter Olympics, the curling renaissance. For two-plus weeks in February, Americans south of Canadian border states remember that curling exists. Riding a wave of patriotic fever and a strong belief that they too could be Olympic-level curlers, Americans fall in love with the sport … right up until the torch goes out.
This year, curling aficionados are planning to keep the love going. Shortly after the Olympics wrap up in late February, the Rock League will launch. A collection of 60 of the world’s greatest curlers, complete with team names, the Rock League hopes to harness the expected momentum from Milan Cortina.
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The new league might just revolutionize and professionalize curling as a sport. At the very least, it’ll be a fun watch with a couple beers close at hand. Win-win either way, right?
“It’s going to be a massive undertaking,” says John Shuster, the gold medal-winning skip of Team USA’s landmark 2018 squad, “but every single player I’ve talked to is really excited to see where this is going to go.”
John Shuster, who won a gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, is one of the players set to compete in The Rock League. (Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP via Getty Images)
(LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA via Getty Images)
Where do you find curling after the Olympics?
“If you’re an American and you love watching curling every four years, but then there’s nothing to engage with after, well,” says Nic Sulsky, CEO of The Curling Group, “you’re gonna forget about the sport.”
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Sulsky came to curling from the gaming industry to co-found The Curling Group, which owns the Rock League. He calls the Winter Olympics curling’s “lightning-hitting-the-clock-tower moment” — referencing, of course, the instant in “Back to the Future” when a massive plan all comes together — and understands it presents a rare opportunity for national attention on a niche sport.
“We know that the whole world’s gonna fall in love with curling like they do every four years,” he says. The question he and other investors in The Curling Group asked is, what’s the followup? How can curling harness and sustain the nationwide momentum it gathers every Olympics?
Curling does, in fact, exist outside the Olympics, of course. The Grand Slam of Curling, for instance, which draws more than one team per country, features more talent top-to-bottom than the Olympics. That intrigued Sulsky enough that he and The Curling Group bought The Grand Slam of Curling, which hosts events throughout the year, from its Canadian media ownership. And then he and his advisors, which include former Olympic curling medalists and NFL Hall of Famer Jared Allen, set about creating the Rock League.
“The sport finally needs a platform to professionalize,” Sulsky says. “The players need an opportunity to actually make a little bit more money. Sponsors need a way to integrate into the sport in a more professional way. There needs to be a proper business strategy within the sport of curling.”
Korey Dropkin, who won a silver medal in the mixed doubles competition at the Milan Cortina Games, is among those who will compete in The Rock League. (Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
(Erick W. Rasco via Getty Images)
The Rock League: Meet the teams
Comprising six teams of 10 curlers apiece, five men and five women per team, including multiple familiar Olympians, the Rock League’s format will look familiar to team-oriented Americans. Each team — Maple United, Shield Curling Club, Frontier Curling Club, Northern United, Alpine Curling Club and Typhoon Curling Club — has its own logo and, eventually, identity. With a range of nationalities represented, each team also boasts an array of athletes for fans to follow, connect with and perhaps even imitate.
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“When I was growing up, it was like, I have this favorite hockey player, I have this favorite basketball player, whatever,” two-time curling Olympian Chris Plys said recently. “There’s kids out there that are 11, 12 years old, but there’s really been no pathway for them to see curling outside of the Olympics and think of that as a viable option for a sport to play. So having a professional league, it’s like, OK, I could do this.”
“Mixing players from countries and teams together is going to be a really refreshing thing for both us as players and for the fans, for sure,” says Shuster, who’s on the roster of the Frontier Curling Club alongside Korey Dropkin, who took sliver in mixed doubles at the Milan Cortina Games.
Sulsky also hopes the Rock League dispels a few of the misperceptions that have built up around curling. “When I walked into the sport, I was expecting old, fat, white guys, right?” he says while laughing. “I see the clips online of people smoking and drinking beer during curling events. I walked in and I was like, Oh my goodness, these are young, fit, attractive men and women who are real athletes.”
But Sulsky and the Rock League don’t just want to change outside perceptions of curling. They want to upend some traditions within the sport, too. At many bonspiels — the curling name for tournaments — the atmosphere is closer to a golf tournament than a football game, with rocks sliding in near-silence and crowds shushing talkers. It’s the traditional form of audience behavior, but some in the curling community believe it’s not the right play going forward.
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“We need energy,” Plys said. “When people are going to spend their hard-earned money, we can’t have these events where people just sit in silence. We’re not going to draw in new fans that way. We need to make it more exciting and have other things going on to bring people in the door.”
The Rock League will begin in April with a one-week “preview season” in Toronto. Then, beginning in January 2027, the Rock League will kick off its touring with a four-week January-February season that includes stops in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New York and Ontario. Future seasons could include Europe and other destinations outside the traditional curling footprint.
How to watch The Rock League
No sport can survive in the 2020s without eyeballs, though. Initially, the Rock League will be available on The Rock Channel, a FAST (free, ad-supported television) all-curling channel already up and running.
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“Visibility is what the sport needs to continue to grow,” Plys said. “The reason that it grows so much during the Olympics is because people in every household finally have access to watching it.”
“The reality is, a sports fan needs to be able to engage with content, or what’s the point?” Sulsky says. “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound? You can have the greatest sport there is. If people can’t watch it, what’s the point?”
Plus, the Rock League will take into account the fact that U.S. audiences tend to be a little less familiar with curling nuance than, say, Canadian ones. A tip here, a secret there, a storyline or two laid out, and all of a sudden the world of curling opens up to viewers.
“We’re seeing the differences when you actually get full games in front of audiences with the right commentators,” Shuster says, invoking names like Tom Brady, Tony Romo and Greg Olsen in the NFL. “Getting people that are smart in the booth to bridge the gap between someone who’s never watched curling, or maybe watches it once every four years, to get them really going along with the game.”
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Future plans for the league include everything from sponsorship alignment to social media storytelling to betting opportunities. “It’s going to be different enough, and exciting,” Shuster says. “Nic and The Curling Group are really working hard, trying to make this not be a novelty.”
The Rock League’s first stones slide in April. Until then, keep telling yourself you could do it just as well as them.
Ski Mountaineering, or SkiMo for short, is a brand-new event at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, and the only sport making its debut at this year’s Games. The sport combines elements of Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, uphill skiing (also known as skinning), and boot packing all into a single race with courses consisting of an ascent, descent, and a foot section. This year at the Olympics, there will be a men’s and women’s sprint event, and a mixed relay event. Representing Team USA this year in ski mountaineering are Anna Gibson and Cam Smith (and if you want to learn more about the sport and the two Team USA athletes, there’s some great info here).
Here’s a complete schedule of all Team USA SkiMo events at this year’s games. While every event will stream on Peacock, you can also find all of them broadcast on USA, too. (To see specific air times, check out the official NBC Olympics broadcast schedule, and toggle your search to “TV Only.”).
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If you want to learn even more about every event at this year’s Winter Games, here’s a guide to everything you need to know about the Milan Cortina Games.
How to watch Ski Mountaineering at the 2026 Winter Olympics
For $17 monthly you can upgrade to an ad-free subscription which includes live access to your local NBC affiliate (not just during designated sports and events) and the ability to download select titles to watch offline.
Where to watch Ski Mountaineering on TV:
Team USA men’s and women’s SkiMo coverage will be broadcast on USA. (To see specific air times, check out the official NBC Olympics broadcast schedule, and toggle your search to “TV Only.”). You can stream USA on DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV and more.
How to watch Olympic Ski Mountaineering without cable:
For $17 monthly you can upgrade to an ad-free subscription which includes live access to your local NBC affiliate (not just during designated sports and events) and the ability to download select titles to watch offline.
Who is on the Team USA Ski Mountaineering team?
These are the athletes on Team USA’s SkiMo team:
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2026 Team USA Olympic SkiMo Schedule:
Thursday, February 19
Men’s and Women’s Sprints: Heats: 3:45 a.m. (Peacock, USA)
Men’s and Women’s Sprints: Finals: 6:55 a.m. (Peacock, USA)
Saturday, February 21
Mixed Team Relay: 7:30 a.m. (Peacock, USA), re-air at 8 p.m. (USA)
MILAN — Last Wednesday night, shortly after 1 a.m., Jordan Stolz’s coach went to speak with the speedskating superstar.
Bob Corby found Stolz in the Olympic Village, still cradling the gold medal that he had secured earlier that evening by winning his first of four races on the sport’s biggest stage.
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“Oh, you got a little trophy there?” the 75-year-old Corby quipped. “What did you do? Did you win a little tee ball tournament?”
Stolz grinned before gesturing toward his medal and saying, “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.”
At first glance, Stolz and Corby might appear to be these Olympics’ most mismatched pairing — an unflappable 21-year-old speedskating phenom and the feisty white-haired grandfather who he lured out of retirement. And yet speedskating’s odd couple have brought out the best in each other during their seven years working together.
Stolz has flourished under Corby’s old-school training methods, establishing himself as the planet’s most dominant speedskater with a real chance to add two more Olympic gold medals to the two he has already won in Milan. And Corby has reveled in helping a star pupil seize his moment in the spotlight more than four decades after an Olympic coaching flop that haunts him to this day.
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The only speedskater ever to win five gold medals at the same Olympics endorsed Corby as the ideal coach to help Stolz chase greatness. Eric Heiden used to train with Corby and to this day refers to him as “the Skate Whisperer.”
“He doesn’t let his ego get in the way of letting Jordan do his thing,” Heiden said. “He knows when to offer advice and coach and then understands when to let Jordan’s innate talent take over.”
Bob Corby had dreams of competing in the Olympics himself, but ultimately found his calling as a coach. (Dean Mouhtaropoulos – International Skating Union/International Skating Union via Getty Images)
(Dean Mouhtaropoulos – International Skating Union via Getty Images)
Leaving Sarajevo empty handed
Decades ago, Corby himself once had aspirations of competing at an Olympics in speedskating. He trained relentlessly for the 1972 and 1976 Winter Games, experimenting with yoga, nutrition and an array of different drills and exercises in an effort to shave just a few tenths of a second off his best times.
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It wasn’t enough. There were always world-class American skaters who were faster than Corby at every distance. But those experiences helped Corby as a coach when he started working for the Madison Speedskating Club and for the U.S. International Speedskating Association while also studying physical therapy at the University of Wisconsin.
One year after Heiden swept all five men’s speedskating races at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, the USISA tasked Corby with the job of helping prepare American speedskaters for the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo. He inherited a young, inexperienced group since Heiden and many other top Americans had chosen to hang up their skates.
The buildup to the Sarajevo Games was marred by infighting over staff shortages, fundraising failures, training sites and coaching methods. Reports from the time period describe a schism between speedskaters who supported Corby and those who backed other USISA coaches.
The results once those Olympics started were also deflating. The Soviets and East Germans dominated. The Americans came home empty-handed. At 18 years old, Dan Jansen took fourth in the men’s 500. Twenty-year-old Nick Thometz finished one spot behind Jansen in the 500 and a hard-luck fourth in the 1,000. Bonnie Blair, then 19, cracked the top 10 in the women’s 500. But there were no American medalists, not even a paltry bronze.
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“It was very disappointing,” Corby said. “You knew that they were just teenagers skating against 25- and 26-year-olds with more years of training, but it still was disappointing to go through the whole thing with them and not get a medal somewhere. I spent a long time afterward trying to analyze if I could have done anything to change things, to make it a little better.”
Corby stepped away from the national team after 1984 but continued to coach speedskaters into the late 1980s. Then he gradually disappeared from the sport altogether as his physical therapy practice began getting busier and his kids showed a preference for soccer and skiing rather than speedskating.
The first time that Corby met Stolz, he had no intention of coaching him. Speedskating coach Bobby Fenn, a longtime close friend of Corby’s, invited him to come watch a short-track meet in Madison nearly a decade ago. When they arrived, Fenn pointed to a rail-thin 12-year-old boy who he coached and told Corby, “Watch this kid. He’s pretty good.”
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Corby, too, recognized Stolz had potential after watching him skate. He met Stolz and his parents that day through Fenn. He stayed in touch sporadically, even providing physical therapy to the young skater after he suffered a hip flexor.
By then, Stolz’s speedskating ambitions had outgrown the backyard pond where he and older sister Hannah famously learned to skate. Stolz’s parents took him and Hannah to Milwaukee a few times a week to work with Fenn, a world-class coach best known for developing Shani Davis into an Olympic and world all-around champion.
Then on Oct. 8, 2017, Fenn didn’t show up to the rink for a scheduled practice session. Later that day, the Stolz family learned the 73-year-old had passed away suddenly, the cause of death reportedly a heart attack.
Fenn’s death was very hard on both her children, Jane Stolz said. Hannah gradually retreated from speedskating, preferring to focus on her passion for raising exotic birds and doing taxidermy. Jordan also drifted. Davis filled in for Fenn for a little while, but when he accepted an opportunity to coach junior skaters in China, Jordan was coachless again.
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While Corby had occasionally offered guidance and support during this time period, Jordan needed more than that. He asked Corby if he’d be willing to return to the speedskating world for the first time in more than two decades to coach him full-time.
The timing, as Corby puts it, was “serendipitous” with him preparing to step back from his physical therapy practice. Plus, Corby says, “How on earth do you say no to a 14-year-old kid who calls you and asks you for help?”
USA’s gold medalist Jordan Stolz (L) listens to his coach Bob Corby after competing in the speed skating men’s 1000m event during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Milano Speed Skating Stadium in Milan on February 11, 2026. (Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP via Getty Images)
(PIERO CRUCIATTI via Getty Images)
Turning a scrawny kid into a powerhouse
Armed with pages of handwritten notes about which training techniques he’d keep from the buildup to the 1984 Olympics and which he’d scrap, Corby tailored a plan specifically for Stolz. Stolz spends much of his summer on his bicycle, building leg strength and aerobic capacity. He powers through draining sets of heavy squats, explosive jumps and single-leg workouts. He also hones his technique away from the ice, imitating his stride on a slide board or using cables as a resistance tool to simulate cornering on ice.
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The emphasis on weight training helped Stolz evolve from a talented but scrawny kid into a powerhouse. By the time speedskating began to emerge from the COVID pandemic, Jordan didn’t just stand out among skaters his own age anymore. The 16-year-old took on the fastest men in America and beat them, clocking a national junior record time of 34.99 seconds in the men’s 500 at the 2021 U.S. Speedskating Championships.
“I remember thinking, ‘Holy cow,’” Corby said. “This kid really has some talent.”
The holy cow moments didn’t stop there.
At 17, Stolz won both the men’s 500 and 1,000 at the U.S. Olympic Trials, qualifying him to participate in the Winter Games in both events.
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At 18, he swept the gold medals in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 at world championships.
At 19, he did it again.
Now Stolz is trying to top all of those feats at these Winter Games. He’s halfway to four gold medals, having already set a pair of Olympic records while outdueling Dutch sprinter Jenning de Boo to win the 1,000 and the 500. He’ll be a heavy favorite to win his third gold medal on Thursday in the 1,500, a distance he has dominated on the World Cup circuit. Then there’s the race that Stolz refers to as “a bonus,” the chaotic, unpredictable mass start.
When asked why the partnership between he and Stolz has turned out so well, Corby said that Stolz responds well to being pushed — especially when the results show that the training programs are working.
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“He can handle a pretty big workload,” Corby said. “He saw a real benefit to doing these types of workouts.”
Spend even a few minutes at the speedskating arena in Milan on one of Stolz’s race days, and the bond between him and Corby is obvious. Corby is the last person Stolz speaks with before a race and the first person he high fives after he crosses the finish line.
“This experience has been great,” Corby said with a laugh, “It doesn’t seem to bother him having a white-haired guy hanging around.”
LIVIGNO, Italy — He had to wait an agonizingly long time, but the bronze medal in men’s snowboard slopestyle is Jake Canter’s.
After stomping his final run for a score of 79.36 to put him third on the leaderboard, Canter had to wait for the rest of the field to finish to see if his score would hold up. Things got tense when Norway’s Marcus Kleveland, the second-to-last rider, crushed his own final run. The judges took an extraordinarily long time to post Kleveland’s score, leaving an anxious Canter waiting to see if he’d be knocked off the podium.
When Kleveland’s score came in at 78.96, Canter breathed a huge sigh of relief. Moments later, when New Zealand’s Dane Menzies crashed on his run, it was celebration time for Canter.
It’s the first Olympic medal for the 22 year old Coloradan, who won the Aspen World Cup in January to secure his place on Team USA.
China’s star snowboarded Su Yiming won his second career Olympic gold (big air, 2022) while Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa took silver.
Red Gerard, the 2018 gold medalist, finished sixth while 17-year old Ollie Martin finished ninth for Team USA.
Team USA has been heavily favored to medal in the men’s and women’s ice hockey competition at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. The women’s team is guaranteed a medal; they’re playing in the gold medal game this Thursday against Canada (marking the seventh time in history that the two clubs have met in the gold medal clash). The men’s team is just entering the playoff round and they’ll play their quarterfinal against Sweden on Feb. 18 at 3:10 p.m. ET. The men’s gold medal final is scheduled for the very last day of the Games, on Sunday, Feb. 22.
Read on for a complete schedule of every U.S. men’s and women’s hockey game at this year’s games, a rundown of who is playing for Team USA, and how to watch all the action. And if you want to learn even more about every event at this year’s Winter Games, here’s a guide to everything you need to know about the Milan Cortina Games.
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How to watch Team USA ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics
For $17 monthly you can upgrade to an ad-free subscription which includes live access to your local NBC affiliate (not just during designated sports and events) and the ability to download select titles to watch offline.
Where to watch ice hockey on TV:
The Team USA women’s ice hockey final will air live on USA on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 1:10 p.m.
How to watch Olympic ice hockey free without cable:
Who is on the Team USA men’s hockey team?
These are the athletes on Team USA’s men’s team, including their hometowns and professional teams:
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Jake Sanderson (Whitefish, Mont./Ottawa Senators)
Brock Faber (Maple Grove, Minn./Minnesota Wild)
Matt Boldy (Millis, Mass./Minnesota Wild)
Kyle Connor (Shelby Township, Mich./Winnipeg Jets)
Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass./Vegas Golden Knights)
Jake Guentzel (Woodbury, Minn./Tampa Bay Lightning)
Noah Hanifin (Northwood, Mass./Vegas Golden Knights)
Connor Hellebuyck (Commerce, Mich./Winnipeg Jets)
Jack Hughes (Canton, Mich./New Jersey Devils)
Quinn Hughes (Canton, Mich./Minnesota Wild)
Clayton Keller (St. Louis/Utah Mammoth)
Jackson LaCombe (Eden Prairie, Minn./Anaheim Ducks)
Dylan Larkin (Waterford, Mich./Detroit Red Wings)
Auston Matthews (Scottsdale, Ariz./Toronto Maple Leafs)
Charlie McAvoy (Long Beach, N.Y./Boston Bruins)
J.T. Miller (East Palestine, Ohio/New York Rangers)
Brock Nelson (Warroad, Minn./Colorado Avalanche)
Jake Oettinger (Lakeville, Minn./Dallas Stars)
Jaccob Slavin (Erie, Colo./Carolina Hurricanes)
Jeremy Swayman (Anchorage, Alaska/Boston Bruins)
Tage Thompson (Orange, Conn./Buffalo Sabres)
Brady Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo./Ottawa Senators)
Matthew Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo./Florida Panthers)
Vincent Trocheck (Pittsburgh, Pa./New York Rangers)
Zach Werenski (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Columbus Blue Jackets).
2026 Team USA Olympic men’s ice hockey schedule:
Tuesday, February 17
Qualification Playoff: Germany vs. France, 6:10 a.m. (Peacock)
Qualification Playoff: Switzerland vs. Italy, 6:10 a.m. (Peacock)
Qualification Playoff: Czechia vs. Denmark, 10:40 a.m. (Peacock, USA)
Qualification Playoff: Sweden vs. Latvia, 3:10 p.m. (Peacock, USA)
Wednesday, February 18
Men’s Quarterfinal 1: Slovakia vs. Germany, 6:10 a.m. (Peacock)
Men’s Quarterfinal 2: Canada vs. Czechia, 10:40 a.m. (Peacock, USA)
Men’s Quarterfinal 3: Finland vs. Switzerland, 12:10 p.m. (Peacock)
Men’s Quarterfinal 4: USA vs. Sweden, 3:10 p.m. (Peacock, NBC)
Friday, February 20
Men’s Semifinal 1: Teams TBD, 10:40 a.m. (Peacock, re-air at 11:50 a.m. and 6 p.m. on USA)
Men’s Semifinal 2: Teams TBD, 3:10 p.m. (Peacock, NBC, re-air at 11 p.m. on USA)
Saturday, February 21
Men’s Bronze Medal Final: Teams TBD: 2:40 p.m. (Peacock, USA, re-air at 7 p.m. on CNBC, re-air at 11 p.m. on USA)
Sunday, February 22
Hockey Preview, 7:45 a.m. (NBC)
Gold Medal Final: Teams TBD, 8:10 a.m. (Peacock, NBC, re-air at 4:30 p.m. on USA)
Who is on the Team USA women’s hockey team?
The athletes on Team USA’s women’s team are:
Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho/Seattle Torrent)
Kendall Coyne Schofield (Palos Heights, Ill./Minnesota Frost)
Lee Stecklein (Roseville, Minn./Minnesota Frost)
Cayla Barnes (Eastvale, Calif./Seattle Torrent)
Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass./Seattle Torrent)
Megan Keller (Farmington Hills, Mich./Boston Fleet)
Kelly Pannek (Plymouth, Minn./Minnesota Frost)
Caroline Harvey (Salem, N.H./University of Wisconsin)
Abbey Murphy (Evergreen Park, Ill./University of Minnesota)
How much will Fernando Mendoza do at the NFL scouting combine?
The NFL released its invite list for the 2026 combine last Wednesday. The 2025 Heisman Trophy winner is one of 15 quarterbacks who were asked to participate in the combine, along with notable names like Alabama’s Ty Simpson, Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia and Miami’s Carson Beck. Overall, 319 players have been invited to the combine.
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Mendoza is widely expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders after he led Indiana to a 16-0 season and the national championship. The Raiders recently hired Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak to be their next head coach.
With Mendoza a near-lock to be the No. 1 pick, it seems unlikely that he’ll do many of the physical drills at the combine. Top-tier quarterbacks have largely preferred to throw at their own pro days in recent seasons — and with no other real contenders to go at No. 1, there’s not much else that Mendoza needs to do to sell himself to the Raiders.
Outside of Mendoza, Simpson is viewed as a possible first-round pick as well.
Mendoza will have eight other teammates at the combine, including running back Roman Hemby and wide receivers Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr. However, running back Kaelon Black and defensive end Mikail Kamara were not invited.
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Hemby was Indiana’s leading rusher with 230 carries for 1,120 yards and seven scores. Black, a transfer from James Madison when coach Curt Cignetti was hired at Indiana, had 1,040 yards and 10 TDs on 186 carries.
Kamara totaled 12 sacks and 22 tackles for loss in his two seasons at Indiana. Though he had just two sacks in 2025, he was massive in the College Football Playoff. His blocked punt in the third quarter of the national championship game win over Miami put the Hoosiers up 17-7.
Here’s the complete invitation list for the 2026 NFL combine. The event begins on Feb. 26.
Defeating Norway and the dominant Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo was going to be an impossible task for every team taking part in the men’s cross-country team sprint Wednesday. Of all the other teams to compete, the U.S. came the closest, picking up a silver-medal finish in the event.
Team USA’s Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher got stronger as the event progressed, eventually finishing just 1.4 seconds behind Klaebo and Einar Hedegart for the silver.
It marked Ogden’s second medal of the 2026 Olympics. He also won the silver in the cross-country sprint, becoming the first U.S. male cross-country skier to medal since 1976. It was Schumacher’s first-ever Olympic medal.
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There were some early stumbles for Team USA, as two poor legs had them sitting in 12th after exchange four. From there, though, both Ogden and Schumacher stepped up their game, posting excellent times in the final two legs to claim the silver medal.
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo sets Olympic record with 10th gold
While the U.S. deserves plenty of credit for their finish, Klaebo was the bigger story. With the win, Klaebo picked up his 10th Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing, extending his record for most golds in Winter Olympic history. He’s won every event in which he’s competed at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics so far.
Klaebo has already picked up gold medals in the 10 km freestyle, 20 km skiathlon, individual sprint, 4 x 7.5 km relay and team sprint. He’ll also take part in the 50-kilometer mass start over the weekend, giving him another opportunity to extend his record and finish off one of the best individual Olympic performances of all time.
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Klaebo was well-known in Norway prior to the 2026 Olympics, as he already had five gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze under his belt. But his performance this year propelled Klaebo into the worldwide spotlight, cementing him as one of the most dominant athletes in the Olympics.
