The opening ceremony is fast approaching. We can't wait to see how Italy welcomes its guests. But before we get to that. Pat Forde explores an even more heated rivalry brewing between the USA and Canada on the ice. Stephanie Apstein explores how American figure skater Alysa Liu has taken control of her life and some NFL stars are looking to spread the message of curling. |
Brian Fluharty/Imagn Images |
Already one of the most enduring and fiercest rivalries in sports, the feud will be magnified in Milan, amid frigid political climate and fiery on-ice clashes. |
By Pat Forde In a New York Times opinion piece in August, Canadian writer Stephen Marche wrote: "Canada is living through an era of acute, sustained, profound and abiding rage. The source is President Trump; the object is the United States." The month before, he launched an eight-part podcast series on Canada's freshly fraught relationship with what had been its forever friendly neighbor, the United States. The name of the podcast series: Gloves Off. Hockey term. Of course. Once arm in arm, the two countries now are squaring off politically, economically—and on the ice. The modern version of their hockey rivalry was spiced up last February when a U.S.-Canada game in the 4 Nations Face-Off, a new international tournament featuring NHL standouts, turned into fight night. The home crowd in Montreal booed "The Star-Spangled Banner," setting a pugnacious tone, and thereafter the gloves were, indeed, off. Brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk of the U.S. were the fire starters. Matthew, a winger for the Panthers, skated up to Canadian and Lightning forward Brandon Hagel before the opening face-off and asked him to fight. Hagel obliged as soon as the game started. After the first bout ended—let's call it a draw—Brady, a winger for the Senators, fought Panthers forward Sam Bennett. Six seconds after the restart, American J.T. Miller, a Rangers forward, topped it off by brawling with Blues defenseman Colton Parayko. The three fights took place in the first nine seconds of play—an eruption of violence rarely seen in international hockey, with a roaring crowd in the Bell Centre ratcheting up the intensity. The U.S. backed up its feistiness by winning that game, 3–1, but lost a more peaceful 4 Nations final five days later to the Canadians in Boston. |
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Mitch and Dan welcome three guests. First, SI's Michael Rosenberg discusses the overall themes of these Games, along with his recent features on Chloe Kim and Jessie Diggins. Then, Rodger Sherman talks about his favorite under-the-radar events. Finally, SI's Kristen Nelson previews the men's and women's hockey |
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Jamie Squire/Getty Images |
By Stephanie Apstein Finally, Alysa Liu is in charge of the direction her life is taking. Not just in figure skating, to which the erstwhile prodigy returned, two years after announcing her retirement in April 2022, to win six of her first 12 events, including the 2025 world championships last March and the '25 Grand Prix Final in December. Not just in her programs, where she has taken on a greater role in selecting her costumes, her choreography and her music. And not even just in her off-ice future, where she is studying psychology at UCLA. No, literally: At 20, Liu now has a driver's license. "I really have so much control over my life," she gushes. "I can just go wherever I want, and I'm not on, like, my dad's schedule. Before, he would drive me to the rink, pick me up. I was more on his timing. Now I'm on my own." So far, her timing is just about perfect. Her decision to retire at 16—two months after finishing sixth in her Olympic debut in Beijing and just a few weeks after winning bronze at the 2022 world championships—seemed abrupt to many onlookers. They only saw the girl who'd become at 12 the youngest skater to land a triple Axel; at 13 the youngest U.S. national champion ever; and at 14 the first American woman to land a quadruple jump. |
Courtesy of The Curling Group |
By Ben Steiner Just a few miles from the buzz of Nashville's Broadway strip, past the honky-tonks and pedal taverns, sit four curling sheets inside a warehouse-like building called Tee Line. There, current and former NFL players George Kittle, T.J. Hockenson and Jared Allen are pushing the roaring game of curling into a new era. Through the NFL offseason, and more often for the retired Allen, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, they swap the pigskin for brooms and hit the pebbled sheets. On those rinks and others across the U.S., the NFL stars are fixated. "In football, you're constantly having to learn, but just from being an athlete, like physically learning how to slide, sweep, the technique was a no-brainer," says Allen. Allen picked up the sport after making a bet in 2018 to see if he could make the Olympics in a sport he'd never played. What began as a harmless idea with his friends brought the former defensive end onto the pebbled sheets for good, but it didn't come without its growing pains. |
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American skier Bryce Bennett takes in a training session at the Stelvio Ski Centre. |
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