MILAN (AP) — The hockey arenas at the Milan Cortina Olympics had a new look as the knockout round of the men’s tournament got underway Tuesday.
The boards encasing the rinks are now light blue and green after the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association made the case to the International Olympic Committee to make a change from the dark color during the preliminary round so it's easier to see the puck.
U.S. goaltender Jeremy Swayman lost sight of the puck in the boards and the stands during his one round-robin game in net against Denmark. Swayman joked he was colorblind, so it didn’t matter to him.
“Thank God because I’m colorblind, too,” Germany goalie Philipp Grubauer said after beating France in the quarterfinals. “I feel for Swayman there because I had a hard time, too, with the dark blue and the print on the puck, too. It wasn’t that easy sometimes, so it’s a good change by the IOC.”
Swayman allowing a goal from long distance made the boards a hot topic of conversation, but the ask to change them came long before. Players talked to the league and union about the boards after each team’s first practice in Milan.
“I know there was discussion,” U.S. coach Mike Sullivan said. “There was discussion about that. Obviously, the dark boards, sometimes it’s hard for the goalies to pick up the puck coming off that."
France goalie Antoine Keller didn't see any difference and said, “It didn't change anything.” Similarly, Czechia's Lukas Dostal did not notice, but he approves of the switch.
“In Anaheim, we have really dark seats,” Dostal said. “Some of the NHL rinks, they have dark seats, so the background sometimes — I don’t want to say you lose the puck, but you’ve got to stay focused a little more. Obviously it’s just better for us, for the goalies.”
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Germany's Frederik Tiffels (95) is congratulated after scoring a goal against France during the first period of a men's ice hockey qualification playoff game at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Italy's Luca Zanatta skates on ice during a men's ice hockey qualification playoff game between Switzerland and Italy at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Italy's Damian Clara makes a save during a men's ice hockey qualification playoff game between Switzerland and Italy at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot re-detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia because a 90-day detention period has expired and the government has no viable plan for deporting him, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.
The Salvadoran national’s case has become a focal point in the immigration debate after he was mistakenly deported to his home country last year. Since his return, he has been fighting a second deportation to a series of African countries proposed by Department of Homeland Security officials.
The government “made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, in Maryland, wrote in her Tuesday order. “From this, the Court easily concludes that there is no ‘good reason to believe’ removal is likely in the reasonably foreseeable future.”
Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Abrego Garcia has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge ruled that he could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger there from a gang that had threatened his family. By mistake, he was deported there anyway last year.
Facing public pressure and a court order, President Donald Trump’s administration brought him back in June, but only after securing an indictment charging him with human smuggling in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty. Meanwhile, Trump officials have said he cannot stay in the U.S. In court filings, officials have said they intended to deport him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and Liberia.
In her Tuesday order, Xinis noted the government has “purposely — and for no reason — ignored the one country that has consistently offered to accept Abrego Garcia as a refugee, and to which he agrees to go.” That country is Costa Rica.
Abrego Garcia's attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, argued in court that immigration detention is not supposed to be a punishment. Immigrants can only be detained as a way to facilitate their deportation and cannot be held indefinitely with no viable deportation plan.
“Since Judge Xinis ordered Mr. Abrego Garcia released in mid-December, the government has tried one trick after another to try to get him re-detained,” Sandoval-Moshenberg wrote in an email on Tuesday. “In her decision today, she recognized that if the government were truly trying to remove Mr. Abrego Garcia from the United States, they would have sent him to Costa Rica long before today.”
The government should now engage in a good-faith effort to work out the details of removal to Costa Rica, Sandoval-Moshenberg wrote.
FILE - Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks during a rally ahead of a mandatory check at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, Dec. 12, 2025, after he was released from detention on Thursday under a judge's order. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
