#team-usa

#team-usa

Matthew Boyd gets his second start of the spring, and we should see him try to push to three innings as he readies to pitch for Team USA. The lefty looked okay the last time out, punching out four of the five batters he retired. He did allow five hits, though four of them were singles.

I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke and unfortunately that is overshadowing a lot of the success, the success of just women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold-medal feats. We're just focusing on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary efforts, and continue to celebrate three gold medals in program history as well as the double gold for both men's and women's at the same time.

The 2026 Winter Olympics have concluded, and the United States, unsurprisingly, did not place atop the medal table. The United States usually excels more at the Summer Olympics; the Americans haven't won the medal count at a Winter Games since 1932, but they have topped the medal table in seven of the past eight Summer Games. (China was the only exception at the 2008 Beijing Games.)

Forty-six years to the day that Mike Eruzione's late goal and the heroics of Jim Craig in goal lifted Team USA hockey to one of the greatest upsets in sports history in a semifinal victory over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, Connor Hellebuyck and Jack Hughes have finally penned another American fairytale at the Olympics.

At 21 years old, Stolz has already begun to separate himself from some of the world's best speedskaters. He put his abilities on full display during the 500m, which he went on to win in an Olympic-record time of 33.77 seconds. The Wisconsin native had the same tenacity when we won the 1,000m earlier in the week. Stolz is on pace to win four gold medals with the next competitions being the 1,500m and the Mass Start scheduled between Feb. 19 and Feb. 21.

They now face Germany to wrap up round robin play, with the second overall seed in tournament play up for grabs. It doesn't seem like they will get the top seed due to goal differential, as Canada has a 2 goal advantage with France up next. It's unlikely the Rangers are able to make up that differential against Germany. That's fine. Team USA has been shaky at times, especially in net, but it's more about how they play in the elimination tournament.

Team USA men's hockey easily handled Latvia in their opening game of the 2026 Winter Olympics, securing a 5-1 victory. The focus now turns to their second round-robin game against Denmark on Saturday at 3:10 p.m. ET. Denmark lost their opener 3-1 to Germany but played better than the scoreline suggests. They outshot the Germans 38-25 but struggled to contain the star power of Leon Draisaitl and Tim Stutzle.

The contest was not without some drama, as the first period included two successful coach's challenges from Latvia that wiped U.S. goals off the board. After that, however, the ice seemed to tilt the Americans' way, and goals from Tage Thompson, Auston Matthews and a pair from Brock Nelson were the difference. Here's what we learned in the opener, along with an overall team grade and big questions to ponder prior to Team USA's matchup against Denmark on Saturday.

Officially, Rich Ruohonen is listed as the alternate on the U.S. men's Olympic curling team in Milan-Cortina. Unofficially, he might be the most indispensable 54-year-old personal injury attorney in the Olympic Village. He'd also be oldest American to ever compete at the Winter Olympics. "I'm not the dad and I'm not the coach," his homemade T-shirt communicates to other athletes, The Wall Street Journal reported. He's there to compete.

With the Winter Olympics mere weeks away - this year's games, hosted in the Milano-Cortina region of Italy, are slated to kick off Feb. 6 - sponsors have begun to release their apparel capsules in earnest, and, as with every Olympics, there have been standouts among both the performance and lifestyle categories. EA7's Team Italia collection, for instance, was one of the surprise successes of Milan Fashion Week, while Mongolia's uniforms, designed by Goyol Cashmere, have been a viral sensation.

When Jason Robertson said that he'll let his play do the talking, he was serious.