One of the showcase events at the Winter Olympics will be hockey, where NHL players are back for the first time since 2014 and the world’s best women’s players are competing in the Games for an eighth consecutive time.
What's known: The main arena will have ice that's smaller than what the speedy, hard-hitting NHL players are used to. What's not known: Whether the rink will be fully built with a safe ice surface — seating should be fine — by the time play begins.
Assuming that all gets settled, the competition should be remarkable, with star players like Sidney Crosby and Hilary Knight going for Olympic gold.
Each of the 12 teams on the men's side and 10 for the women have rosters of 22 skaters and three goaltenders, dressing 20 and two and playing 5 on 5 in regulation and 3 on 3 in overtime. The games will be familiar to NHL and PWHL fans: 60 minutes of regulation, divided into three periods, with no ties. If there is not a goal in overtime, shootouts — skater vs. goaltender for five rounds — are used to determine the result until the gold medal game, when play continues with sudden-death 20-minute periods until one team scores. Group play sets the matchups for elimination games.
The North American teams are considered the ones to beat for both men and women.
It is expected to be Knight's fifth and final Games as she and Kendall Coyne Schofield give way to the next generation of American talent led by Laila Edwards. Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin is set to play in her sixth Olympics and is looking for a fourth gold medal. The Canadians gave up 10 goals — for the first time in national team history — to the U.S. in an exhibition game in December.
Finland is the defending champion on the men's side after winning its first Olympic title in 2022 when pandemic-related scheduling issues caused the NHL to pull out. Canada won in 2014 and 2010, the last two times the world's best men's players participated, with Crosby this time joining forces with Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon.
As with all team sports, Russia is barred from hockey at the Olympics because of the war in Ukraine. That sidelines many of the best players in the world, including NHL career goals record holder Alex Ovechkin and two-time Stanley Cup champions Andrei Vasilevskiy and Nikita Kucherov.
The men’s tournament is scheduled to run from Feb. 11-22. The women start Feb. 5, the day before the opening ceremony, with the final on Feb. 19. Games are set to be held in Milan at the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, a new, 16,000-seat venue, and a smaller rink in Rho.
Crosby's "golden goal" to give Canada an overtime victory in the final in 2010 in Vancouver is etched in hockey lore. So is T.J. Oshie's shootout success for the U.S. against host Russia in Sochi in '14.
Poulin had her own OT heroics that year, as Canada tied it late after the U.S. hit the post of an empty net, which would have sealed gold. Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and the Americans returned the favor in 2018, beating their archrivals in a shootout in the final.
Men's hockey has been a fixture since the first Winter Games in 1924 and actually debuted at the 1920 Summer Games in Antwerp. Canada has won gold nine times (including Antwerp), the most by far (the Soviet Union won seven times), with Sweden and the U.S each winning twice. The American men haven't won since the 1980 “Miracle On Ice” in Lake Placid. The women's competition was added at Nagano in 1998; either the U.S. or Canada has won every Olympic title since and the fierce rivals have met in the final six out of seven times.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) and Utah Mammoth defenseman Nate Schmidt (88) in the third period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
FILE - Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) during an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
FILE - United States forward Hilary Knight skates to the bench to celebrate her goal against Canada during the first period of a rivalry series women's hockey game, Nov. 8, 2023, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
Houston (12-5) at Pittsburgh (10-7)
Monday, 8:15 p.m. EST, ESPN/ABC.
BetMGM NFL odds: Texans by 3 1/2.
Against the spread: Texans 9-8; Steelers 8-8-1.
Series record: Steelers lead 8-5.
Last meeting: Texans beat Steelers 30-6 on Oct. 1, 2023, in Houston.
Last week: Texans beat Colts 38-30; Steelers beat Ravens 26-24.
Texans offense: overall (18), rush (14), pass (22), scoring (13).
Texans defense: overall (1), rush (6), pass (4), scoring (2).
Steelers offense: overall (25), rush (26), pass (22), scoring (15).
Steelers defense: overall (26), rush (13), pass (29), scoring (17).
Turnover differential: Texans plus-17; Steelers plus-12.
QB C.J. Stroud will make his fifth career playoff start Monday and a victory will make him the fourth quarterback in NFL history to win a postseason game in each of his first three seasons, joining Joe Flacco, Hall of Famer Otto Graham and Russell Wilson. The 24-year-old has had at least 200 yards passing in six straight road games and has thrown for 245 yards or more in three of his four playoff games. In the six games since his return after missing three because of a concussion, he has thrown eight touchdown passes with just three interceptions.
WR DK Metcalf. The two-time Pro Bowler returns this week after serving a two-game suspension for initiating physical contact with a fan in Detroit in late December. Pittsburgh's offense struggled without him in the muck in Cleveland on Dec. 28 but bounced back against Baltimore, with Aaron Rodgers throwing for a season-high 294 yards. Metcalf had been warming up at the time of his suspension. His presence gives the Steelers a legitimate deep-threat option provided the offensive line gives Rodgers enough time to throw while facing one of the best pass rushes in the NFL.
Steelers offensive tackles Dylan Cook and Troy Fautanu against Texans edge rushers Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson. Cook, who began the season on the practice squad, has filled in capably after taking over for injured starter Broderick Jones, while Fautanu has thrived this season after an injury-marred rookie season in 2024. Anderson and Hunter combined for 27 sacks, and Houston's best chance at winning the first road playoff game in franchise history will start with Anderson and Hunter making life difficult for Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers, who will be making the 22nd playoff start of his 21-year career.
Texans: DE Denico Autry (knee), OL Tytus Howard (ankle), RB Jawhar Jordan (ankle), CB Kamari Lassiter (ankle) did not practice on Thursday. T Trent Brown (ankle/knee), LB Jamal Hill (calf), DT Sheldon Rankins (elbow), S Jaylen Reed (forearm) and CB Derek Stingley Jr. (oblique) were limited on Thursday.
Steelers: Pittsburgh is surprisingly healthy heading into its first home playoff game in five years, though RB Jaylen Warren did sit out practice midweek because of an illness.
This is the first playoff meeting between Pittsburgh and Houston. The Steelers have won three of the past four games between the two clubs, though the Texans drilled Pittsburgh 30-6 in Houston two years ago, which proved to be an early sign of what the Texans were building under then first-year coach DeMeco Ryans. ... The Steelers hold a 3-1 advantage in games played at Acrisure Stadium. Houston's lone victory in Pittsburgh came during its first trip on Dec. 8, 2002, when the Texans used three defensive scores to pull off a 24-6 stunner in a game that was played when current Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud was just 14 months old.
The Texans are in the playoffs as a wild-card team for the first time, where they’ll look to win their first postseason road game after losing their first six away from Houston. … It’s their third straight trip to the playoffs. … Houston has tied a franchise record with a nine-game winning streak. It’s the longest winning streak by a team entering the playoffs since San Francisco took a 10-game run into the 2022 postseason. … The Texans are the fifth team since 1990 to open a season 0-3 and reach the postseason and the first team to do it twice after their 2018 team also made such a turnaround. … Houston's 12 wins are tied with the 2012 team for most in a regular season in franchise history. … Houston’s defense led the NFL in total yards allowed (277.2) and ranked second by allowing 17.4 points a game. … RB Woody Marks ranks sixth among rookies with 703 yards rushing this season. He has had at least 75 yards of offense in two straight road games. … WR Nico Collins leads the Texans with 1,117 yards receiving, his third straight 1,000-yard season. Collins has had at least five receptions in each of his four playoff games. … WR Jayden Higgins had the second-most touchdown receptions by a rookie in franchise history with six, which was tied for second among rookies in the NFL this season. … TE Dalton Schultz ranked third among tight ends with 82 receptions and his 777 yards ranked sixth. … DE Danielle Hunter ranked third in the NFL with 15 sacks for his seventh season with at least 10 sacks. He has a sack in four straight games. … DE Will Anderson Jr. tied for fourth in the NFL with a career-high 20 tackles for loss and had a career-best 12 sacks. … LB Azeez Al-Shaair led the team with 103 tackles for his third straight season with at least 100 tackles. … LB Henry To’oTo’o has career highs with nine tackles for loss and four passes defensed this season. … CB Kamari Lassiter tied for fifth in the NFL with a career-high 17 passes defensed. … CB Derek Stingley had 15 passes defensed and tied for the team lead with four interceptions, including his first interception return for a TD. … K Ka’imi Fairbairn was selected AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after tying a franchise record with six field goals in a Week 18 win against the Colts. His tiebreaking 43-yard kick with 12 seconds left gave him 44 field goals this season, which ties David Akers (2011) for most field goals made in a season in NFL history. ... The Steelers are back in the playoffs for a third straight year and the 13th time in coach Mike Tomlin's 19-year tenure. ... Pittsburgh used a 4-1 sprint to finish the regular season to capture its eighth AFC North title under Tomlin. ... The Steelers carry a six-game playoff losing streak into their meeting with Houston, tied with Miami for the longest active postseason losing skid in the NFL. ... Pittsburgh is 23-0 in its past 23 scheduled Monday night home games, a streak that goes back to 1991. The only loss on Monday night during that span came in 2020, when the Steelers fell to Washington in a contest that was pushed back from Sunday to Monday as part of the scheduling havoc brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. ... The Steelers are making their 36th overall playoff appearance in team history, third in the NFL behind Dallas and Green Bay (both with 38). ... Pittsburgh is 21-11 all time at home in the playoffs. ... Rodgers is 11-10 all time in the playoffs and has won at least one postseason game in five of his past six appearances. ... Pittsburgh LB T.J. Watt is looking for the first playoff victory of his career. The perennial Pro Bowler returned last week from a three-game absence while recovering from surgery to repair a partially collapsed lung to grab the ninth interception of his career. ... The Steelers are one of two playoff teams to not feature a 1,000-yard rusher or 1,000-yard receiver. The Los Angeles Chargers are the other. ... Pittsburgh's playoff victory drought has been marked by falling into early deficits. The Steelers have been outscored 143-47 in the first half during their six-game playoff losing streak. ... Pittsburgh RB Jaylen Warren had career bests in yards rushing (958) and yards from scrimmage (1,291).
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Houston Texans head coach Demeco Ryans talks to the media following an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts in Houston, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin watches from the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) walks off the field following an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts in Houston, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
