MILAN — Megan Keller threw her arms in the air and threw her equipment on the ice as teammates mobbed her.

She had just scored a golden goal, completing a remarkable rally for USA women in the final game of the 2026 Winter Olympics women’s hockey tournament. They trailed with three minutes to go, were tied with two minutes to go, and overjoyed four minutes into overtime.

Keller took a pass from Taylor Heise, dangled around defender Claire Thompson and fired a shot that slipped through the pads of Ann-Renee Desbiens to give USA a 2-1 victory over Canada.

‘I’m lost for words,’ Keller said. ‘This is an incredible feeling. I love these girls so much. This group deserves it. Just the effort and the faith that we kept through this four-year journey is something very special.

‘We worked so hard for the past four years. We love each other in that locker room. Just a really special group and just couldn’t be happier for us.’

Heise smiled when asked about the play.

‘Meg was flying up the ice, and she was calling for the puck, and I kind of wanted a change,’ Heise said. ‘So I chucked it up to her, and I didn’t even see what she did. I’m very excited to get to my phone and really get a good memory and burn it into my memory.

‘Big Meg. She’s amazing. I think she does things right. She learned from Hilary [Knight]. She’ll say it herself. I think that they’ve played with each other for a very long time and continue to do so. I think Meg, she’s got a little forward in her, and I love that for her because she’ll get in practice and start dangling people and we’re like, ‘Big Meg, that’s you girl.’ But she’s amazing and I think her and Hilary are the main reasons we have the belief we do in the team.’

By the time she approached the bench, Heise knew Keller had scored.

‘People are already throwing their arms up, throwing the helmets,’ Heise said. ‘And then I just turned around real quick, threw my gloves off, couldn’t get my helmet off, so I just skated to the mix of everyone.’

Keller laughed when asked if she had dangled like that before.

‘I mean, maybe in practice,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t really thinking or planned anything. Just trying to take what was given.’

Keller (Farmington, Michigan) became the second Boston Fleet (PWHL) player to score in overtime on Feb. 19 at Santagiulia. In the bronze medal game, Alina Müller scored to lead Switzerland past Sweden, 2-1.

‘When she get the puck, I was like, ‘I know where she’s going to score that,’ and she did,’ Müller said of Keller. ‘Pretty sick move for a defenseman. But yeah we’re going to have a lot of fun back in Boston.’

Keller scored at 4:07, sending her teammates rushing over the bench in jubilation.

‘Oh my God, it was unreal,’ said Kelly Pannek. ‘I mean, she is someone who I think does so much for our team on the ice. Off the ice, she’s just such a great person to be around as well. Right when she got that puck, I was like, oh, she’s going to try it. She’s just such a special player that has had such a great career. It sometimes flies under the radar in ways, but just so stoked that it went in.’

MILAN — The Olympics took Amber Glenn’s joy away. On Thursday night, she made herself find it.

‘I told myself,’ Glenn said, ‘no matter what, in that spiral you’re gonna look up, and you’re gonna say, ‘I’m at the Olympics.’ And I was really proud I was able to do that.’

Her team event free skate was ‘lackluster’ (Glenn’s word). Her individual short program was ‘devastating.’ But her women’s free skate. Oh, her women’s free skate was magnificent.

‘I’m a fighter, and I’m resilient,’ Glenn said. ‘And you never know what’s gonna happen, because I never thought I’d even be here. And to be top five is incredible.’

Glenn started the night 13th (67.39) and ended it two spots shy of a medal (214.91). Just like the end of her short program, Glenn clutched her chest, this time without any tears of anguish. Instead, a satisfied nod precipitated by passionate fist pumps and triumphant screams.

She opened the free skate with a pristine triple Axel met by raucous applause from inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena. Her music – ‘I Will Find You’ by The Return – swelled as a soft, garnet-painted smile spread across her face. All eyes followed her navy blue silhouette gliding across the ice. Goosebumps enveloped every limb in the building but had nothing to do with the cold.

A stark contrast to her two previous outings.

Guilt consumed Glenn after her performance in the team event Feb. 8. She stumbled in the beginning, recovered later on and posted a 138.62 score – 11.88 lower than her score at the U.S. Championships last month. When Ilia Malinin clinched gold for Team USA, she was relieved.

‘I felt like I left so much pressure on him, and he’s already under so much pressure being hailed as ‘Quad God’ and all that,” she said. “He stepped up, like we all knew he would, but I was just really grateful.’

Disappointment defined her short program Tuesday. Even after Madonna, the Queen of Pop and singer of Glenn’s choice song ‘Like A Prayer,’ wished her luck. A gorgeous start – triple Axel, the routine’s most difficult element – set ablaze by an incomplete triple loop. She botched her favorite jump in figure skating, bailing after two rotations and invalidating the element.

And she knew immediately. 

That failed triple loop stole her joy. The joy she fought years to regain. 

She struggled mightily on the ice, too, entering a ‘fight or flight state’ when adrenaline and nerves crept up in competition. One wrong move, and she’d never recover. Every remaining element would suffer.

On top of seeking treatment for her mental health struggles, Glenn added sports psychology to her training. She embraced a technique called “neurofeedback,” which allowed her to steady her heart rate during stressful moments. After years of hard work, she started seeing results.

Glenn won the 2025 Grand Prix and became the first American woman since Michelle Kwan to win three consecutive national figure skating titles (2024-26). It all culminated in her qualifying for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. 

Her troubles started when she got to Milan.

On Feb. 4 — two days before the opening ceremony — Glenn, who came out as pansexual and bisexual in 2019, was asked about the Trump administration’s impact on LGBTQ Americans. She said ‘it’s been a hard time for the community overall,” adding ‘It is something that I will not just be quiet about, because it is something that affects us in our everyday lives.”

A sentiment echoed by several Team USA athletes during these Games, and one Vice President JD Vance did not vibe with.

‘You’re there to play a sport, and you’re there to represent your country and hopefully win a medal,’ Vance said. ‘You’re not there to pop off about politics.’

Glenn’s immediate main takeaway from these Games, she said Thursday night, was the hope that ‘we can find a way to support our athletes’ after seeing ‘some really disturbing things when it comes to all three of us (U.S. women’s skaters)’ online. It dimmed an experience Glenn dreamed about her whole life. She reiterated her commitment to speaking out Feb. 7 but announced she would limit her time on social media after receiving “a scary amount of hate/threats” for her comments.

Then came the team free skate performance. And nine days later, her disappointing short program.

‘I was devastated because I lost the happiness and the enjoyment that I wanted to have out there on the ice, to say, ‘I fought for everything, I did everything I could,’” she said Wednesday. ‘That’s what I truly wanted, and that’s what I missed out on.’

As a little girl, Glenn dreamed of twirling around the ice on one leg, the other in the air as she looked up and saw five rings overhead. ‘I’m at the Olympics,” she’d think to herself.

She’s been chasing that dream since she first started skating at 5 years old. A dream she feared slipped through her fingers. A dream realized Thursday night during her final skate of these Games.

Reach USA TODAY Network sports reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.

MILAN — Ruining the friendship was worth it for Mikaela Shiffrin.

Taylor Swift responded to one of Shiffrin’s Instagram posts, congratulating her on winning her third Olympic gold medal. The post was a photo of Shiffrin during the slalom race Wednesday, Feb. 18, and she captioned it, ‘My advice is always ruin the friendship.’

‘HISTORIC’ Swift replied, adding three gold medal emojis.

Shiffrin put a screenshot of the comment on her IG story, saying ‘Ummmm’ with several starstruck and stunned emojis. Shiffrin is a big Swift fan, and she took her U.S. Ski teammates to the Denver stop of the Eras tour in July 2023.

‘Ruin the Friendship,’ off Swift’s latest ‘Life of a Showgirl’ album, is the story of someone who realizes too late that she should have had the courage to act on her feelings. After winning gold, Shiffrin talked of needing to remind herself to ignore previous criticism and commit to what she wanted.

Shiffrin’s gold was her third, tying her with snowboarder Shaun White and bobsledder Kaillie Humphries for second-most by a U.S. Winter Olympian. Only speedskaters Bonnie Blair and Eric Heiden, who have five each, have more.

‘I kept reminding myself … what was important to me is the moments between the start and the finish,’ Shiffrin said. ‘There will always be criticism. But I am here to earn the moment, and that is going to require some risk. The risk of not finishing. It’s also the risk of being criticized, and to accept that (is) not the easiest thing to do, but in the end today we could do that.’

Swift appears to be keeping tabs on the U.S. team at the Winter Olympics. After Breezy Johnson got engaged, Swift responded to the new Olympic downhill champion’s post. Johnson’s fiancé had quoted another one of Swift’s songs, ‘The Alchemy’ in his proposal.

Before the NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket is carved in stone, attempts to anticipate what the final product will look like more closely resemble molten lava. That was made abundantly clear over the last three days, which featured numerous developments that in turn led to significant changes in our latest projection.

The quartet of No. 1 seeds was shaken up yet again, as Connecticut was a home upset victim against Creighton Wednesday night. Houston replaces the Huskies on the top line, as the Cougars’ most recent result was a less damaging loss at Iowa State. As fate would have it, the Cougars’ next opponent, Arizona, is also on the first line along with Michigan and Duke, who are set to square off themselves in a non-conference clash Saturday. In short, expect the bracket to once again look very different next week.

STARTING FIVE: Top matchups in top five highlight weekend schedule

There is also much to be settled on the bubble, where both of the Big Ten’s Los Angeles members are on the precipice. As things stand heading into the weekend, UCLA is on the outside and Southern California is clinging to a First Four spot. San Diego State has also fallen to the wrong side of the cut-off point, as Santa Clara returns to the field for now.

March Madness bracketology: NCAA Tournament projection

March Madness last four in

Southern California, New Mexico, Santa Clara, TCU.

March Madness first four out

UCLA, San Diego State, California, Virginia Commonwealth.

NCAA tournament bids conference breakdown

Multi-bid leagues: Big Ten (10), SEC (10), ACC (8) Big 12 (8), Big East (3), West Coast (3), Mountain West (2).

MESA, AZ — Perhaps back in the day, when Alex Bregman burst into the big leagues as a brash rookie third baseman with the Houston Astros, it would be different.

It was a time when Bregman was a must-hear sound bite, a must-write interview, and had absolutely no filter.

Now, 10 years later, Bregman still is one of the most talented third basemen in the game, with a resume that includes four pennants, two World Series championships and nine consecutive postseason appearances. But he is much more mature and reserved in his thoughts.

He’ll be 32 years old in a month, is a family man with a wife and two young children, a businessman with his own training facility, Club Nemesis, in Scottsdale and has a father running for governor in the state of New Mexico.

Bregman is a bona fide clubhouse leader who is bilingual, studies hitting tapes and scouting reporters to help teammates and minor leaguers in the organization, and has become one of the game’s respected players with his professionalism and work ethic.

And, yes, he has learned the art of diplomacy.

Bregman, sitting in the bleachers outside the Chicago Cubs’ clubhouse and speaking with USA TODAY Sports, hears the outside noise, particularly emanating from the Boston Red Sox camp, and this time in life refuses to stoke the flames.

If Red Sox president Sam Kennedy wants to say, “If Alex Bregman wanted to be here, ultimately, he’d be here,‘ Bregman will let him talk.

If the Detroit Tigers were so upset Bregman shunned them after the 2024 season that they didn’t even engage this winter when he hit free agency again, that’s their choice.

If the Houston Astros still insist they offered Bregman a six-year, $156 million contract when he left as a free agent two years ago, and instead traded for Isaac Paredes of the Cubs, it’s their money to spend it as they wish.

What Bregman will tell you is that he’s absolutely ecstatic to be with the Cubs, and, oh, how the Cubs already love him.

This is where Bregman believes he belongs, but if he wanted to be perfectly candid, he could offer his own retort to the Red Sox by saying, “If he Red Sox really wanted me back, I’d be in Boston.‘

Alex Bregman contract takes him to Wrigley

It’s not worth his time to go down that rabbit hole and will simply let the facts speak for itself.

The Red Sox offered Bregman a five-year, $165 million contract, with deferred money, and did not include a no-trade clause. The Cubs offered a five-year, $175 million contract, also with deferred money, and included a no-trade clause.

So, if the Red Sox had simply offered a no-trade clause, would Bregman be wearing a Red Sox uniform today?

“It was more than just that,’ Bregman says.

Did he think he’d be returning to Boston, where he was their clubhouse leader and hit .262 with 18 homers and 62 RBIs with an .821 OPS in 114 games?

“I didn’t know, I really didn’t know,’ Bregman says. “I obviously loved my time there. Love all of the guys there. Love AC [manager Alex Cora]. I’ll always cherish it.’

The memories playing for the Red Sox, even if it was just for one year, will never be forgotten.

“Playing at Fenway is unbelievable,’ Bregman says. “The fans in Boston are unbelievable. My teammates were incredible. I’ll be a fan of their for life. I loved playing for AC and the coaching staff there. They mean a lot to me.’

Bregman hails Cubs ‘tradition’

So, considering all of the great memories, if the Red Sox had just given him a no-trade clause, and at least matched the Cubs’ offer, would he still have chosen the Cubs?

“I just really don’t want to get into it,’’ he says. “It’s not worth it.’

While Bregman declined to provide details of the talks, a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations believes that the Red Sox were convinced Bregman and agent Scott Boras were bluffing. The Red Sox were confident they had the highest bid, and thought they’d bidding against themselves.

So, basically, it was take-it-or-leave it offer.

Bregman left it.

It was similar circumstances to two years ago when Bregman became a free agent for the first time. The Tigers made the highest offer at six years, $171.5 million, and refused to bid. It was more than the Astros’ offer at $156 million, but included an opt-out only after the second year.

Bregman still thought he was heading to Detroit to join his former manager A.J. Hinch until the Red Sox jumped in with a three-year, $120 million deal. It was not only paying him $40 million a year compared to the Tigers’ annual salary of $28.8 million, but it also included opt-outs after the 2025 and 2026 seasons.

Teams made their choices, and Bregman certainly made his, and isn’t about to look back.

Bregman purchased a home in the Scottsdale area, a 20-minute drive to the Cubs’ spring-training complex, and living in a city filled with Cubs’ fans, with one of every six residents are from Chicago, according to studies.

No need for opt-outs

He is home.

And even with his third different uniform in three years, he hopes to continue his streak of playing in the postseason every year of his career, leading the Cubs back to another World Series championship without having to wait another 108 years.

“It feels good, I’m so excited to be here,’’ Bregman said. “There’s just so much tradition. Great fanbase. So much history. Great energy in the ballpark. Everything.

“I just hope to do my part in helping this team win. Obviously, they already had a really good team, and made a postseason run last year. Now, I hope to help them any way I can.’

‘You can feel the energy’

Certainly, the hype in Chicago is in full force with Bregman’s arrival. They are no longer dreaming of the playoffs, but a World Series, with Bregman already pouring his heart and soul into the organization.

“He really wants to help guys get better,” said Jed Hoyer, Cubs president of baseball operations. “He’s passionate about it. … It’s rare to have a player that’s invested in helping make young guys better. And you’ll see it in various ways, but it’s a wonderful quality that he has. It’s something people with the Astros talk about and people with the Red Sox talk about, and it’s something he’s earned.’

It’s why fans at their Cubs convention screamed just at the sight of Bregman, and after spending the week in Chicago attending a Bulls game, Blackhawks game and Bears game, it’s as if they already adopted him as a native son.

“It’s crazy, it was so much fun,’ Bregman said. “The energy is crazy, especially with it being 10 degrees outside and just seeing how excited everybody was. You can feel the energy in the city and they love their sports teams, and they love their city.

“There’s so much energy in those buildings and everyone has welcomed me with open arms. I’m so grateful for that. My wife and I are super excited to get out in the community and raise our kids there.’

Bregman, a three-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner, realizes there will be ups and downs like any year. He was off to one of the finest starts of his career last year until missing 1½ months with an injury. He hasn’t had that spectacular of season since 2019 when he slashed .297/.423/.592 with 41 homers and 112 RBIs, finishing runner-up in the MVP race.

And, of course, he’s now playing for the first time in the National League. Fans still viciously boo players from the 2017 Astros, who were embroiled in the sign-stealing scandal.

Perhaps in time there will be forgiveness for those Astros hitters still in the game, just as the Hall of Fame voters ended their punishment towards Carlos Beltran, electing him into this year’s Hall of Fame class.

“It was super cool to see Carlos get in,’ Bregman says. “He was a superstar player, and one of the best clubhouse guys I’ve ever been around.’’

He was also thrilled to see former Astros teammate Justin Verlander return to the Tigers where his career started, giving the Tigers one of the most dynamic rotations in baseball with two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, former Astros teammate Framber Valdez, Jack Flaherty and Verlander.

““I’m so excited for him … That’s a good team,’ Bregman said. They got a lot of pitching. That rotation is really, really good.’

World Baseball Classic for Bregman. Olympics next?

Bregman was invited by Mark DeRosa, manager of Team USA, to be his third baseman last summer. He was in the 2017 squad that won a gold medal, but as the youngest player on the team (22), only got eight plate appearances. He would have played in 2023, but he broke his finger in Game 7 of the 2022 World Series.

Now, he’s back, representing Team USA.

“I had so much fun that first time playing in it, I really missed out last time,’’ Bregman said. “I always loved representing our country, and take so much pride representing the red, white and blue.’’

He says he looks forward to being around infielders Bobby Witt Jr. and Gunnar Henderson for two weeks, and particularly Yankees MVP Aaron Judge, while getting to know his own Cubs teammates with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matthew Boyd. The bonus is that Team USA will be playing their pool round games at Daikin Park in Houston, where Bregman played the first nine years of his career, and where his in-laws and plenty of friends still reside.

And if MLB permits their major-league players to play in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, as expected, count Bregman in. He wouldn’t miss for the world.

“That would be the ultimate,’ Bregman said. “It would be crazy. It would really be incredible.’

But for now, well, he’s got a championship to win, this time in Chicago, with baseball already scheduled for October on the Bregman calendar. He is four years shy of tying the MLB record of 13 consecutive postseason appearances, set by Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Clayton Kershaw.

“I don’t take it for granted at all,’ Bregman says. “I know how hard it is to get there. How many things have to go right, how many things your team has to do well to get there. So, believe me, I never take it for granted.

“I mean, I just love playing meaningful baseball games in October every single year.

“I sure look forward to doing that again here.’’

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

MILAN — The U.S. women’s national hockey team captured gold over Canada in a dramatic overtime victory at the 2026 Winter Olympics, but that wasn’t the most nerve-racking part of Hilary Knight’s week.

‘I was more nervous for the proposal than I was for the gold medal game’ Knight said Feb. 18 following the gold medal win.

The five-time Olympian proposed to U.S. speed skater Brittany Bowe one day before the U.S. faced Canada in the women’s hockey final. Knight said her plan to propose was making her so anxious that she ultimately decided to pull the trigger because her “legs felt like Jello” throughout the tournament.

So Knight did what any elite athlete would do. She penciled in her proposal on Wednesday before Team USA’s final practice ahead of the gold medal game.

‘Call me crazy, but doing it before a gold medal game, it just seemed fitting for us,” said Knight, whose goal forced overtime on Thursday. ‘I kind of wanted to (propose) and then set my mind and intention for hockey prep. And so just with scheduling and Britt’s schedule, it just made sense to do it that morning.’

Knight didn’t tell anyone of her plans, not even her teammates. She got down on one knee following a morning coffee run, similar to how the two first connected at the 2022 Beijing Games amid COVID-19 protocols. Knight announced the news on Instagram without a second thought, captioning a video of the proposal, ‘Olympics brought us together. This one made us forever.’ She then went back to hockey mode and prepared for practice.

Business as usual, right? Wrong.

‘I was a little naive to just throw the video up on social and put my phone away for practice,’ Knight joked. ‘I thought I could skate on by … I don’t know what I was thinking.’

Well, the engagement announcement quickly went viral and is up to nearly 100K likes, eliciting responses from fellow Olympians like Madison Chock, Elana Meyers Taylor and Ilona Maher. The video also made its way to Knight’s teammates, who found out with the rest of the world. “She didn’t tell us,” added Megan Keller, who scored the game-winner in overtime to win the gold.

They immediately jumped into celebration mode and greeted Knight at practice to the tune of Bruno Mars’ “Marry You.” Her team’s love and support is exactly why Knight opted to propose before the big game on Thursday.

‘I mean to be able to celebrate these different milestones with this group is incredible,’ Knight said. ‘I’ve had a heck of a week personally, so it’s been an incredible ride and I have to soak this all in because this room is just so special. This team is so special. This is the best U.S. hockey team I’ve ever been a part of and that is just so tremendous.’

Bowe was in the Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena to witness Knight’s historic night, where her clutch goal to force overtime broke the U.S. all-time points and goal record. Knight plans to return the favor on Friday when Bowe competes in the women’s 1,500 meters. 

 “I can’t wait to cheer her on,’ Knight said.

Knight and Bowe first met at the 2022 Beijing Games. The duo often went on fully masked strolls that were cute but not necessarily romantic, Knight recalled. Bowe walked away with bronze in the 1,000 meters in Beijing, but she told People magazine that her time with Knight ‘was the biggest win coming out of Beijing.’

“(It was) a very unique way to meet someone, but it was also kind of cool because we felt like we were in this bubble,’ Bowe said. ‘No outside distractions. And we really had a lot of time just to get to know each other.”

Reach USA TODAY National Women’s Sports Reporter Cydney Henderson at chenderson@gannett.com and follow her on X at@CydHenderson.

While Alysa Liu embodied that in her seemingly effortlessly graceful routine, the silver and bronze medalists in Japan are representing two generations of skate in the Land of the Rising Sun. Silver medalist Kaori Sakamoto and bronze medalist Ami Nakai stood alongside Liu on the podium as a triumvirate.

It was a sweet moment away from the podium, however, that showed what the moment meant to gold and bronze. A clip was shared of Nakai jumping in excitement and Liu embracing her and hoisting her off the ground before just letting the moment take over and jumping for joy together.

The infectiousness of the smiles cuts both ways.

‘When I see other people smiling, I see them in the audience, I have to smile too,” Liu said after she won gold. ‘I have no poker face.”