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Milan-Cortina Olympics hero Jack Hughes is likely looking at a dental implant to replace teeth knocked from his mouth in the third period of the men’s hockey final between the United States and Canada on Sunday.

Once the euphoria of scoring the winning goal in overtime subsides and celebrations cease, Hughes will undergo a surgical procedure that most dentists agree is far superior to alternatives such as dental bridges or partial dentures.

Titanium posts will be inserted into his jawbone, serving as new roots for the teeth. Once the posts are secure and his mouth has healed, custom crowns matched to his natural teeth in shape, color, and size will be placed on top of each post.

Hughes, who is in year four of an eight-year, $64 million contract with the New Jersey Devils of the NHL, has no worries about affording the best care possible. Sure, health care is free in Italy and he could have remained there for the procedure, but he told reporters he wants it done on home turf.

The United States’ Jack Hughes reacts after receiving his gold medal after Team USA defeated Canada in the men’s ice hockey gold medal game.

(Luca Bruno / AP)

“I’m lucky I’m from the best country in the world, and we’ve got great dentists there, too,” Hughes said while caressing the gold medal hanging from his neck. “I’m lucky I’m American, and they’re gonna fix me right up.”

When Canadian forward Sam Bennett’s high stick slammed into his mouth in the third period, Hughes looked down and rolled his eyes.

“I looked on the ice and saw my teeth,” said Hughes, who had a tooth knocked out in an NHL game a few years ago. “I was like, ‘Here we go again.’ The last time that happened, it wasn’t very fun.”

Losing teeth is an occupational hazard for hockey players. They know implants can be as good as the real thing. Hughes played on even while resembling a Jack-o-lantern.

“Who cares at this point, to be honest?” U.S. teammate Matt Boldy said. “I think more people are looking at his medal than his teeth. I’m sure he’ll be OK.”

Attention certainly focused on Hughes’ heroics in overtime. He re-entered the game a minute into the 3-on-3 overtime and quickly found himself the only U.S. player between Canadian superstar Connor McDavid and the goal.

Oh, and McDavid had the puck on his stick.

Hughes retreated slightly, bracing for another painful collision by using his body as a barrier. McDavid couldn’t get off a clean shot and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck — whose game-long heroics will forever be remembered — slapped the puck away.

Less than a minute later, Hughes fielded a cross-ice pass from Zach Werenski and fired it past Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington. Game over.

“I got it to the right guy,” Werenski said. “He’s been hot all tournament.”

That hasn’t been true for long. Hughes underperformed in last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off — which Canada won — before shoulder surgery ended his NHL season. This season, he missed five weeks with the Devils after slicing his right thumb open on broken glass at a team dinner.

His older brother and teammate Quinn Hughes, who led the U.S. team with eight points during the Olympics, knows the emotional roller-coaster that Jack has endured. The thrill ride couldn’t have ended any better.

“[Jack] is an animal,” Quinn said. “He’s gone through a lot with his shoulders. He takes a lot of [crap]. No one loves the game more than him. He’s got so much passion. He’s a gamer. He made it happen.”

Their parents, Jim and Ellen, were in attendance. Ellen Weinberg-Hughes is a Player Development Consultant for the U.S. women’s hockey team, which also won gold. No doubt mom will be scheduling that dentist appointment for Jack sooner than later.

Vernon Kay is hosting brand new BBC gameshow Do You Know Your Place? teaming up with The Traitors star Paul Gorton

The BBC has introduced a new quiz show Do You Know Your Place?, which launches on Monday 23 February.

However, according to The Traitors star Paul Gorton, who is co-presenting the show with main host Vernon Kay, he was originally down to be a guest until the host they had booked to present his segment had to pull out.

The new series sees Paul lead an ‘unreliable’ UK tour of a different destination each day with three celebrity players battling it out to sort unbelievable facts from fiction.

From locations in Belfast to Wrexham, celebrity guests include EastEnders star Nitin Ganatra, the Reverend Kate Bottley, Gladiator ‘Apollo’ Alex Gray, Anneka Rice, Susan Calman, Owain Wyn Evans and Max Fosh.

Alongside Paul’s tours, Vernon will task the celebrities with a number of in-studio games, each taking inspiration from the day’s destination.

Whoever gets the most points across the show wins the episode and a souvenir that Paul has sent back from his travels with points accrued across five days with the overall winner at the end of the week receiving an ‘I Know My Place’ sweatshirt.

Talking about the new series, The Traitors star Paul said of how he got the role, telling us in an exclusive chat: “I think it was two years ago, there was an idea to do kind of like a travel show with celebs and then have all these kind of games in there and almost pack everything that you’ve watched into kind of like one show in one location, do it all there.

“I was booked to be a guest on one of these early iterations and the host pulled out, because the host was going to be out with the celebs, so Vernon [who has the main hosting gig] would be out with the celebs type of thing, and whoever they booked decided to not show and said, ‘Oh I can’t do it now’, so instead of finding someone, let’s see if Paul wants to have a go.

“We did the pilot which was me and these three celebs and it was just off you go, have fun.

“And I think they quite quickly realised that it would be nice to have this lovely kind of homely studio element to it with an absolute megastar [Vernon] and then we’ll still have Paul running around in a storm, in the rain and in the freezing cold.

“Luckily it all worked, it all clicked together. I did my bit which was all kind of the VTs, then Vernon’s done his bit in kind of like a mock studio and they stitched it together and the BBC just, it feels very weird to me because, and Vernon will know this a lot more than I do, but they were saying pretty much everything never gets commissioned.

“But the BBC guys were just like ‘Yep, we love it, we want it’ and that got us to almost present day where I’ve been running around the country finding all the weird and wonderful and magnificent parts of the UK.”

Do You Know Your Place? airs on BBC Two, weekdays at 6.30PM, starting from Monday 23 February.

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One minute has been proposed as a halfway house, but BBC Sport understands concerns remain about negative impacts.

Manchester United were angered last season when Matthijs de Ligt was forced to leave the field with a cut, and Brentford scored from a corner while he was off the pitch.

The fear is a one-minute absence would make it far more likely a team could concede a goal when down to 10 players.

Thirty seconds already causes frustration among supporters – and unintended consequences of goals conceded could add further pressure on to officials.

There is an acceptance players use supposed injuries as a way of breaking up play, but it is felt extending the time limit could unduly penalise genuinely injured players.

There are a few exceptions.

If the opponent is shown a yellow or red card the injured player does not need to stay off. Goalkeepers are also exempt, while a penalty taker would be able to stay on.

However, Ifab is not expected to pass any resolution to tackle the tactical timeout. This is when a goalkeeper goes down off the ball in order for a coach to get new instructions to the team.

Ifab’s advisory panels have discussed the issue at some length but, so far, there has been no agreement on a solution.

Following the success of the eight-second rule for goalkeepers holding the ball, new countdown measures are set to be approved.

A similar process will be added to goal-kicks and throw-ins, with possession changing to the opposition if it takes too long.

A 10-second limit will also be applied to substituted players – if they do not get off the pitch the replacement will not be allowed to come on.

A team would have to play with 10 players until the next stoppage, and that must be after at least 60 seconds.

Ifab is expected to approve video assistant referee reviews for wrongly awarded second yellow cards and, as a competition opt-in, corners.

The Canadian Premier League is also likely to be granted permission to start trials of Arsene Wenger’s daylight offside.

SAN FRANCISCO — It was speed dating: Eight suitors with less than four minutes each, pitching the woo to thousands of Democratic Party faithful.

The race for California governor has been a low-boil, late-developing affair, noteworthy mostly for its lack of a whole lot that has been noteworthy.

That changed a bit on a sunny Saturday in San Francisco, the contest assuming a smidgen of campaign heat — chanting crowds, sign-waving supporters, call-and-response from the audience — as the state party held its annual convention in this bluest of cities.

Delegates had the chance to officially endorse a party favorite, providing a major lift in a contest with the distinct lack of any obvious front-runner. But with an overstuffed field of nine major Democratic contenders — San José Mayor Matt Mahan was said to have entered the contest too late for consideration — the vote proved to be a mere formality.

No candidate came remotely close to winning the required 60% support.

That left the contestants, sans Mahan, to offer their best distillation of the whys and wherefore of their campaigns, before one of the most important and influential audiences they will face between now and the June 2 primary.

There was, unsurprisingly, a great deal of Trump-bashing and much talk of affordability, or rather, the excruciating lack of it in this priciest of states.

The candidates vied to establish their relatability, that most valuable of campaign currencies, by describing their own hardscrabble experiences.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — the first speaker, as drawn by lot — spoke of his upbringing in a home riven by alcoholism and domestic violence. State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond described his childhood subsistence on food stamps, free school lunches and surplus government cheese.

Former state Controller Betty Yee told how she shared a bedroom with four siblings. Katie Porter, the single mom of three kids, said she knows what it’s like to push a grocery cart and fuel her minivan and watch helplessly as prices “go up and up” while dollars don’t stretch far enough.

Michele Reed of Los Angeles cheers at the state Democratic Party convention.

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

When it came to lambasting Trump, the competition was equally fierce.

“His attacks on our schools, our healthcare and his politics of fear and bullying has to stop now,” Villaraigosa said.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) called him “the worst president ever” and boasted of the anti-Trump battles he’s fought in Congress and the courts. Xavier Becerra, a former California attorney general, spoke of his success suing the Trump administration.

Porter may have outdone them all, at least in the use of profanity and props, by holding up one of her famous whiteboards and urging the crowd to join her in a chant of its inscription: “F—- Trump.”

“Together,” the former Orange County congresswoman declared, “we’re going to kick Trump’s ass in November.”

Porter was also the most extravagant in her promises, pledging to deliver universal healthcare to California — a years-old Democratic ambition — free childcare, zero tuition at the state’s public universities and elimination of the state income tax for those earning less than $100,000.

Unstated was how, precisely, the cash-strapped state would pay for such a bounty.

Former Assemblyman Ian Calderon offered a more modest promise to provide free child care to families earning less than $100,000 annually and to break up PG&E, California’s largest utility, “and literally take California’s power back.” (Another improbability.)

Becerra, in short order, said he was “not running on inflated promises” but rather his record as a congressman, former attorney general and health secretary in President Biden’s cabinet.

Rachel Pickering, right, vice chair of the San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party, stands with others wearing pins supporting Democratic causes at the party’s state convention.

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

It was one of several jabs that could be heard if one listened closely enough. (No candidate called out any other by name.) “You’re not going to vote for a Democrat who voted for the border wall, are you?” Thurmond demanded, a jab at Porter who supported a major funding bill that included money for Trump’s pet project.

“You’re not going to vote for a Democrat who praises ICE, are you?” Thurmond asked, a poke at Swalwell, who thanked the department for its work last year in a case of domestic terrorism.

“You’re not going to vote for a Democrat who made money off ICE detention centers,” Thurmond went on, targeting Tom Steyer and his former investment firm, which had holdings in the private prison industry.

Yee seemed to take aim at Mahan and his rich Silicon Valley backers, suggesting grassroots Democrats “will not be pushed aside by the billionaire boys club that wants to rule California.”

The barb was part of a full-on assault on the state’s monied class, which includes Steyer, who made his fortune as a hedge fund manager.

In a bit of billionaire jujitsu, he sought to turn the attack around by saying his vast wealth — which has allowed him to richly fund his political endeavors — made him immune to the blandishments of plutocrats and corporate interests.

“Here’s the thing about big donors,” Steyer said. “If you take their money, you have to take their calls. And I don’t owe them a thing. In a world where politicians serve special interests, I can’t be bought.”

There were no breakout moments Saturday. Nothing was said or done in the roughly 35 minutes the candidates devoted to themselves that seemed likely to change the dynamic or trajectory of a race that remains stubbornly ill-defined and, to an unprecedented degree in modern times, wide open.

And there was certainly no sign any of the gubernatorial candidates plan to give up, bowing to concerns their large number could divide the Democratic vote and allow a pair of Republicans to slip through and emerge from California’s top-two primary.

But for at least a little while, within the confines of San Francisco’s Moscone Center, there was a glimmer of a life in a contest that has seemed largely inert. That seemed a portent of more to come as the June primary inches ever closer.

HOLIDAY prices move constantly. Most people know that.

But only a few realise just how much the time of day you book can influence what you pay.

I work in travel and spend a large part of my job analysing pricing data, and recently, I wanted to understand how big the swing really is across a single day.

Not just the cheapest day of the week, but the cheapest hour, and even the cheapest minute.

The results were clearer (and way more dramatic) than I expected.

When is the most expensive time to book?

The data shows that the most expensive time of day to book a holiday is between 9am and 10am.

Bookings made in that window came in at around 30 per cent more expensive than the cheapest time of day, according to the data.

There is a straightforward reason for this: it’s when demand spikes.

People arrive at work, open their laptops and start browsing.

Search volumes increase, airline pricing systems respond, and fares begin to rise. Then, package holiday prices follow the same pattern.

In simple terms, booking your summer break with your first coffee of the day is statistically one of the pricier moments to do it.

When is the cheapest hour to book?

At the other end of the scale, the cheapest time to book is consistently between 4am and 5am.

Overnight, demand drops off. Fewer searches mean less upward pressure on prices.

Airline systems effectively reset after the previous day’s activity, and fares often return closer to their baseline before building again through the morning.

It’s not a secret loophole. It’s simply supply and demand working in your favour while most of the country is asleep.

Is there a more realistic option?

Of course, most people are not setting alarms for 4am to book a holiday.

So I looked specifically at sociable hours.

If you are booking in the late evening, roughly 8pm to 10pm, prices were on average around 5 per cent cheaper than during the 9am to 10am rush for the same holiday.

Five per cent may not sound dramatic, but on a £2,000 family holiday that equates to around £100.

That is a tangible difference for many households – mine included.

When is the exact cheapest minute?

Out of curiosity, I pushed into the data further and examined booking times by the minute.

Consistently, the single cheapest minute recorded was 2:48am.

At that exact point, bookings were around 60 per cent cheaper than the most expensive time of day in the data sample.

Now – reality check time. Booking at 2:48am does not mean every holiday will magically be 60 per cent cheaper.

Pricing is influenced by many factors, including availability and route demand.

However, it illustrates just how wide the gap can be between peak and off-peak booking behaviour.

Testing it in real time

Data is one thing. I wanted to see it happen on screen. So I tested two different package holidays.

First, I checked Catty Cats Garden Hotel in Turkey at 2:47am. It was pricing at £133 per person.

Later that same morning, at 11:36am, the exact same hotel and dates were pricing from £165 per person.

That is roughly a 24 per cent increase in a few hours.

Then I repeated the test with a completely different deal – Mahdia Beach & Aqua Park in Tunisia.

At 2:48am, it was pricing from £130 per person. When I checked again at 11:46am, it had risen to £143 per person.

Again, same hotel, same dates. The only thing that changed was the time of day. Early hours versus late morning – identical searches but different prices.

It is a simple demonstration of how sensitive holiday pricing can be to demand levels throughout the day.

What this means for sunseekers

I want to be clear: I’m not encouraging everyone to live like an insomniac just to save a few pounds. But the broader trend is consistent.

Peak browsing hours tend to coincide with higher prices. Quieter periods – particularly early morning and late evening – often offer better value.

If you want a practical takeaway: avoid the 9am to 10am window if you can. Consider booking later in the evening instead.

And if you do happen to wake up at 4am and find yourself scrolling… it might be the most financially productive scroll of the week.

Holiday pricing is reactive, it responds to us.

So sometimes, saving money is not about finding a hidden code or waiting for a sale.

It is simply about stepping slightly outside the rush and pressing “book” when everyone else is still asleep.

The Lakers had just completed practice Thursday with a full and healthy squad when Luka Doncic strolled over to speak with the media.

Doncic had played only five minutes Sunday for Team World in the All-Star Game because of a lingering left hamstring strain. He had missed the previous four Lakers games.

With the Lakers scheduled to start the post-All-Star break against the Clippers on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena, Doncic was asked if he was playing in that game.

“Probably,” he said. “We’ll see. I got to talk to people.”

Since Doncic did practice, he was asked how he was doing and how his hamstring felt.

“I’m good,” he said. “Feeling good.”

But, Doncic was told, he did play in the All-Star Game, even if it was limited time.

“Five minutes. I was on minutes restriction,” Doncic joked.

Lakers coach JJ Redick was the first to speak to the media after practice, his time away from the game leaving him fresh and ready to go.

He was asked if Austin Reaves, who had been on a restriction of about 25 minutes after returning from a 19-game because of a left calf strain, would still be on a minutes restriction and if Doncic would be available for the game against the Clippers.

“Austin won’t have a minutes restriction,” Redick said, “and as of 35 to 45 seconds ago, we’ll have everybody available tomorrow.”

Injuries have been a common thread for the Lakers this season.

Lakers guard Austin Reaves sits on the scorer’s table before entering a game against the Mavericks earlier this month. His minutes restriction since returning from a calf injury has been lifted.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

It started at the beginning of the season, when LeBron James missed 14 games because of sciatica. He has recently dealt with left foot arthritis that kept him out of a game.

Center Deandre Ayton missed the last two games with right knee soreness.

“Well, there’s only so much you can control. I mean, you know, as a coach, you have zero control in that. As a player, you know what you do to prepare, and what you do to recover can give you some level of control, but ultimately, the basketball Gods in the game are going to dictate health,” Redick said. “It’s funny, we were talking before the season about building continuity with those three guys, and we’ve had them available together for 10 games. So it’s just the situation we’re in.

“Not the only team that has had a bunch of health issues throughout the season and had to manage that. But I think … my messaging this morning to the players was this is going to be a sprint, these last 28 games. It’s another segment of the season where, starting tomorrow, we won’t have more than a day between games until the end of March. So, we’ve got an opportunity to, I think, play our best basketball after the All-Star break. We’ve got a number of indicators on both sides of the ball that we’re doing some things that are trending in the right direction. And I think it’s coming at a good time, as we’re getting fully healthy.”

Doncic, James and Reaves have played just 10 games together because of health issues.

As a trio, they have combined to average 80.2 points per game, led by Doncic’s NBA-best 32.8 points per game. Reaves is averaging 25.4 points and James 22.0.

Reaves said it is “very important” that the three of them get reps together.

“You have those games from last year, but obviously you still have a learning curve of how to play alongside one another and that’s with everybody else on the team as well,” Reaves said. “Continuing to build that continuity and confidence in every single position. We’re locked in with the five guys on the court. So, very excited.

“I think you can tell throughout the season, even with the unfortunate injuries and stuff, we’ve done a good job of maintaining it. We’re fifth in the West, on pace for a good record and just getting healthy is going to continue to help that. So it’ll be fun to see what that looks like and get to work.”

The Lakers

play four games next week, all against opponents with winning records that are jockeying for position in the playoff race.

So, Thursday’s practice was a good start for the Lakers to get back in gear.

“We only got one practice in so we’re not going to get a lot out of one practice,” Doncic said. “But we definitely like to get up and down a little bit after one week off. So, it was good.”

MILAN — A gold medal that seemed firmly in the grasp of the U.S. women’s hockey team nearly slipped through its fingers in the final of the Milan-Cortina Games on Thursday, but the Americans rallied to win 2-1 on Megan Keller’s goal just over four minutes into overtime.

Kristin O’Neill’s shorthanded goal less than a minute into the second period gave Canada its goal while Hilary Knight matched that for the U.S. with 2:04 to play, deflecting a Laila Edwards’ slap shot from the high slot through her legs and past Canadian goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens to send the game to the extra period.

The goal, Knight’s 15th in Olympic competition, broke the American record and came seconds after U.S. coach John Wroblewski had pulled his goalie for an extra attacker.

Keller then won it, taking a long Taylor Heise pass on the left wing, racing into the Canadian zone, stickhandling around defender Claire Thompson before beating goalie Desbiens cleanly.

The gold was the second in the last three Olympics for the Americans, who are ranked No. 1 in the world. Both have come against Canada while the victory was the eighth straight for the U.S. over their northern neighbor dating to last April’s world championship.

The overtime rules are unique for gold-medal games, with the teams playing three-on-three for 20-minute periods, with the first goal deciding the winner. Games cannot end in a shootout.

In the preliminary round, overtimes were limited to five minutes, followed by a five-round shootout. In the knockout stage, the overtime period was extended to 10 minutes, followed by a shootout.

None of that figured in Thursday’s result.

The young Americans, who had 12 women playing in their first Olympics, looked uncharacteristically rattled in a scoreless first period in which they took two penalties — one for too many players on the ice — and were outshot 8-6. It was just the third time in the tournament the U.S. went an entire period without a goal.

Things got worse 54 seconds into the second period when O’Neill outskated Edwards up the center of the ice on a breakaway, took a short centering pass from Laura Stacey, then deked U.S. goalie Aerin Frankel to the ice before beating her to her gloved side for the first goal of the game.

That snapped a 352-minute scoreless streak for the U.S. and marked the first time the Americans trailed in Milan.

For much of the game Canada was faster, smarter and more poised. And Desbiens was spectacular in goal. In Canada’s group-play loss to the U.S., she was pulled in the third period after giving up five goals. This time she came within two minutes of shutting out a team that had scored 31 times in its previous six games.

MILAN — Jordan Stolz’s run for the speedskating triple crown came up short in the 1,500 meters Thursday, with the American settling for silver behind China’s Ning Zhongyan at the Milan-Cortina Games.

Ning set an Olympic record, blazing the oval at Milano Speed Skating Stadium in 1 minute and 41.98 seconds. Stolz, who won gold in the 500 and 1,000 meters to become the first U.S. man to win in both distances in the same Olympic Games since 1980, had the fastest finishing kick of the top eight skaters, but reached for the line 0.77 of a second behind Ning at 1:42.75.

Stolz was the top-ranked racer in the 1,500-meter distance and raced in the final pair. Watching the speedskating superstar, Ning clasped his hands in prayer during the final race. When the final time flashed across the screen, his coach held Ning’s hands in the air. He began to sob. The 26-year-old earned his first Olympic gold medal after earning bronze in the 1,000 and the team pursuit.

Hoping to win four gold medals in Milan, Stolz still has an opportunity to add a third in the mass start on Saturday.

Eurostar offer an easy way to explore the continent without needing to hop on a plane, and a new rule change means it could become an even more convenient mode of travel

Eurostar has announced a change to its check-in rules at St. Pancras International in London in a bid to ease overcrowding and make journeys easier for passengers.

Currently, passengers taking a Eurostar train need to arrive at least 60 minutes before their journey and then have to wait in the departures area. However, the change will see passengers able to arrive just 30 minutes before their departure time.

The Telegraph reports that there are plans to allow passengers to board their Eurostar train as soon as it arrives at St Pancras, reducing crowding in the departures area. Speaking to the news outlet, Wendy Spinks, Chief Commercial Officer at London St Pancras Highspeed, said that she wanted the experience of taking the Eurostar to be more like a train journey than flying.

She said: “It cannot be the equivalent of an airport departure lounge. We see it being a really quick process. Going straight to the train is part of the plan. It has become too close to the airport experience, where you check in, go to security, wait in the lounge and then rush to the gate.”

The changes come as Eurostar prepares to expand its services, including the introduction of double-decker trains, as well as new direct routes to Frankfurt and Geneva, expected to launch from early 2030.

It’s also expected that by then, Virgin Trains and Italian operator Trenitalia will be offering rival services from St Pancras, challenging Eurostar’s monopoly on the Channel Tunnel route. Wendy went on to admit that bottlenecks in the departure areas were an obstacle to expanding these services and offering international trains from all five of its available platforms.

St Pancras has also recently needed to install new kiosks with the technology to run the EU’s entry and exit system (EES), which will be required at all external border crossing points by April 9.

Last summer, Eurostar and London St. Pancras Highspeed announced they were joining forces on an ambitious project to double the capacity of St Pancras station, enabling the historic building to handle 5,000 international passengers an hour.

Expected to cost £100m, the plans would improve the “international area and its connection to the main concourse, helping the passenger flow and customer experience” by the end of 2028. A further phase could see arriving passengers redirected to a lesser-used upstairs area, and this change is set to be completed by the end of 2030.

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Any new operators would share platforms with Eurostar, and passengers would need to make sure that they were boarding the correct train. However, it’s speculated that the expansion of St Pancras could cut check-in times to 15-minutes, meaning passengers could simply head straight to their service.

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MILAN — The U.S. advanced to the final of the women’s hockey tournament at the Milan-Cortina Olympics with a 5-0 rout of Sweden on Monday and will meet the winner of the second semifinal between Canada and Switzerland in Thursday’s gold-medal game.

The goals came from Cayla Barnes, Taylor Heise, Kendall Coyne, Hayley Scamurra and Abbey Murphy. Hannah Bilka had two assists while Aerin Frankel turned back 23 shots in pitching the Americans’ fifth consecutive shutout, running their scoreless streak to more than 331 minutes. The unbeaten U.S. has scored at least five times in each of its six games, outscoring opponents 31-1 overall.

Kendall Coyne, top left, celebrates with her teammates after scoring against Sweden in the second period Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Barnes got things started 5:09 into the first period, taking a pass from Kelley Pannek behind the goal line, settling it inside the right faceoff circle, then blasting a shot over the shoulder of Swedish goalie Ebba Svensson Traff for her first goal of the Games. Barnes is the 15th American to score in the tournament.

But that was all the U.S. would get in a first period in which it built a 13-2 shot advantage.

Heise doubled the advantage midway through the second period, although Bilka did most of the work, taking the puck at center ice and driving hard up the right wing before slipping a deft pass across the front of the goal for Heise, who had an easy tap-in.

Six minutes later Murphy made it 3-0 and the rout was on, with Coyne and Scamurra adding goals 109 seconds apart to extend the U.S. lead to 5-0 heading into the second intermission.

U.S. forward Abbey Murphy, right, scores past Sweden goalkeeper Ebba Svensson Traff in the second period Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

MILAN — The U.S. will take the No. 2 seed into the quarterfinals of the men’s hockey tournament of the Milan-Cortina Olympics after beating Germany 5-1 on Sunday to finish group play unbeaten.

The Americans’ opponent in the final eight will be determined in a four-game qualification round Tuesday. Canada, also unbeaten after it thrashed France 10-2 earlier in the day, will take the top seed into the quarterfinals by virtue of its plus-17 goal differential.

The U.S. got two scores Sunday from Auston Matthews and goals from Zach Werenski, Brock Faber and Tage Thompson. Germany’s only score came from Tim Stutzle of the Ottawa Senators, his fourth of the Olympics, with less than nine minutes to play.

The Americans outshot Germany 13-3 during the first 16 minutes, but a combination of poor puck handling and sloppy play in front of the net kept them off the scoreboard until Werenski, a defenseman with the Columbus Blue Jackets, took a pass from Matthews in the center of the right circle, stepped up and drilled a wrister past goalie Maximilian Franzreb nine seconds before the first intermission.

The U.S. thought it had a goal moments earlier when Vegas Golden Knights’ forward Jack Eichel drove the puck from the top of the left circle though a crowd and into the back of the net. But the officials ruled the play had been whistled dead before the shot.

Matthews, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ captain, doubled the advantage 3:25 into the second period, poking the rebound of a Quinn Hughes’ shot by Franzreb for his second power-play goal of the Olympics.

Faber, who plays for he Minnesota Wild, made it 3-0 with less than 2:30 left in the second period, playing the puck off the boards near the blue line and flicking it on goal where Eichel got a stick up in front of Franzreb, distracting the goalie as he reached up unsuccessfully to glove the puck.

Thompson, of the Buffalo Sabres, and Matthews closed out the scoring for the U.S. with goals less than five minutes apart into the final period.

Their frustrating midseason slump was finally in the rear-view mirror, their season finally feeling back on the right track.

Any reservations about USC righting the ship after losing six of seven had largely been forgotten on the heels of a four-game winning streak. Victories over No. 8 Iowa, Rutgers, Northwestern and Illinois, two of which came on the road, had cemented its place on the right side of the NCAA tournament bubble.

But as the Trojans were reminded in a 79-73 win over Indiana at Galen Center, now is no time to get comfortable — even if Thursday’s victory had marked their longest winning streak of the season.

The Hoosiers certainly never let USC settle in, even as freshman Jazzy Davidson poured in another stat-stuffing performance that would have to carry a stagnant Trojan offense for much of the way. It would take an aggressive defensive effort, too, complete with 19 forced turnovers, to put Indiana away.

That it took such a hard-fought effort to escape a team that’s 3-11 in the Big Ten and was without the Big Ten’s leading scorer, Shay Ciezki, was not exactly reassuring, as USC (16-9 overall, 8-6 in the Big Ten) enters the final four games of their regular season slate. Two of those four are against top 10 teams, Ohio State and UCLA.

But where the Trojans might have slipped up earlier in the season, they held tight Thursday.

“We were tough where we needed to be when shots weren’t falling,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “Our confidence to get it done when it’s not always prettiest is something that we’re proud of.”

Outside of a stellar second quarter, Thursday’s win certainly would not be remembered for being aesthetically pleasing. Over the rest of the game, Trojans shot under 32% from the floor. Their issues from three-point range persisted, as they made just three of 19 from behind the arc. Over their last four games, they’ve knocked down just 11 of 68 (16%).

They wouldn’t need them Thursday, not with Davidson looking as dynamic as ever. The freshman sensation followed up a career-high, 27-point performance with 24 points, along with six rebounds, three assists and three steals. She did so while playing all 40 minutes.

“You talk about overdelivering,” Gottlieb said, “To be a freshman and carry the load for us and continue to grow, the numbers are really showing it … she’s just capable of doing almost anything on a basketball court.”

That much has been abundantly clear over the last seven games, with Davidson as she’s averaging 20 points, six assists, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks per night. She credited that outburst with being more comfortable down the final stretch of the season.

The Trojans will likely go as far as their dynamic freshman can take them as March approaches. But of late that’s been a pretty successful strategy.

“She’s unique,” Gottlieb said. “I know there are several good freshmen in the country. We know how good she is. We see it every day, and we think there’s no one better.”

USC didn’t look early on like a team that had found solid ground . The Trojans went six straight minutes in the first without a single field goal, then gave up an 8-0 run to Indiana in the final 1:22 of the quarter.

It was until Davidson turned it on in the second quarter that USC seized control. Fresh off her fifth Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors, Davidson tallied 10 points in the second alone, while the Hoosiers had just 13 total, USC’s defense clamping down after a sloppy start.

With Indiana’s attention on Davidson, Kara Dunn and Kennedy Smith would help the Trojans fire out front, as they combined for 20 points after half. But the Hoosiers tied the score just one possession into the fourth quarter.

An elbow to the face of guard Malia Samuels gave the Trojans free throws and a seven-point lead with just four minutes remaining in the game. Still, a foul from Dunn on a corner three-pointer by Indiana’s Maya Makalusky opened the door for the Hoosiers.

Makalusky, who led all scorers with 29, hit another three to once again cut the lead to a single possession.

But USC held on, with Smith applying the punctuation mark, snagging a driving Indiana lay-in out of mid-air with just a minute remaining. It was the sort of play that reminded what USC might be capable of, with everything working in concert.

It’ll need that to be the case, if it hopes to make noise come March.

“We’re in position to do all the things we set out to do,” Gottlieb said. “We’re as good and set up as any team outside of maybe the top group to get a great seed.”

MILAN — Maxim Naumov typically trembles as he waits in his opening position before the music begins. But on Tuesday, the 24-year-old U.S. figure skater stood firm at center ice with the Olympic rings beneath his feet and his right fist raised. A white gold ring with a single diamond on his ring finger glittered in the light.

It was his father’s ring.

A year after his parents, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, were among 67 people killed in a Washingon, D.C. plane crash, Naumov carried their strength during his Olympic debut and delivered an emotional season’s best 85.65 in the men’s short program that qualified him for the free skate.

U.S. teammate Andrew Torgashev also scored a season’s best in his Olympic debut, qualifying for Thursday’s free skate with an 89.94. His coaching team, which includes Irvine-based Rafael Arutyunyan, fist-bumped after Torgashev hit the final combination jump of his program. Skating to “Maybe I Maybe You” by the Scorpions, Torgashev flashed the rock-and-roll symbol to the crowd as he saluted.

Instead of the raw emotion Naumov released after the U.S. championship that clinched his Olympic spot last month, he smiled purely and breathed deeply while the crowd at Milano Ice Skating Arena showered him with applause. He looked toward the rafters and spoke to his parents.

“Look what we just did,” Naumov said. “We did it.”

Maxim Naumov holds a photo of his parents after competing during the men’s free skate at the U.S. championships.

(Stephanie Scarbrough / Associated Press)

The elder Naumov and Shishkova were three-time world pairs skating medalists and two-time Olympians. The 1994 world champions coached at the Skating Club of Boston and remained at the 2025 U.S. championships in Wichita, Kan., after the competition to coach a development camp.

Maxim Naumov, who had finished fourth at the U.S. championships for the third time in a row, returned home immediately after the competition. In one of their last discussions as a family, Naumov’s father laid out the plan to ensure they could reach the Olympics in one year. The talk lasted about 45 minutes. After the first 30 minutes, Naumov said he was rolling his eyes the way children often do, but he understood the message: They were going to work together and revamp everything they do.

After the crash on Jan. 29, 2025, Naumov struggled to leave the house. He couldn’t bear to tie his skates. Going to the rink felt unimaginable.

At every moment, Naumov wanted to lay in bed and rot. He instead chose to find the thing that felt like the most difficult task and attack it. At first it was simply waking up. Then it was getting out of bed. Then it was going to work and coaching his parents’ former students. Now they’re his students.

“The only way out is through,” Naumov said. “Everyone has the ability to do that: to remain strong in your mind, have willpower and do things out of love instead of fear. I think if you’re able to do that, whatever it is that you’re going through, however big or small, you can have small wins every single day, and you can do things that you never thought that you could.”

Naumov earned his Olympic spot by finishing third at last month’s U.S. championships. The emotions of the national competition that would decide the family’s dream were so heavy that after he finished his free program, he found a secluded corner in the tunnel and sobbed.

Finally on the Olympic stage, Naumov felt nothing but stillness. Naumov said he felt his parents’ presence and the support of the entire figure skating community “like a hand on my back pushing me forward.”

Looking at old videos can still be painful for Naumov. But he mustered the strength to look through the family’s large photo album ahead of the U.S. championships and pick out several photos he brought to the competition. His parents had always been in the kiss-and-cry with him. With his spot on the Olympic team at stake, he wanted them there again.

Waiting for his score in Milan, Naumov flashed a photo he picked. He is flanked by his parents standing on the ice for the first time at about 3 years old.

Two decades later, he was stepping off Olympic ice.

“To be able to just have 2 minutes and 50 seconds to show what you’ve been working on for 19 years, and to be able to make it happen when it matters and when it counts, there’s no feeling like it at all ever,” Naumov said, still breathless from the emotional performance more than 30 minutes after he nailed the final note. “I just hope that I made everyone proud.”

U.S. flags waved on every side of the rink as he saluted the crowd. He knows his mother would have not been there watching in person because she was too nervous to attend. Refreshing the online score tracker to keep up with Naumov’s program, she would always find a way to send a message of support to her son.

Before his program, Naumov sent a message of his own.

“Mom and dad,” the videoboard in the arena read, “this is for you.”

MILAN — The U.S. won its group and will advance to the quarterfinals of the Milan-Cortina Winter Games as the top seed after routing Canada 5-0 on Tuesday at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

Two of the goals came Hannah Bilka with Carolina Harvey, Kirsten Simms and Laila Edwards scoring one apiece.

The win was the seventh in a row for the U.S. over Canada, dating to last April’s world championships. And the Americans dominated from the start, taking its earliest lead of the tournament on Harvey’s goal 3:45 into the first period.

The score came following a faceoff, with Haley Winn working the puck to the high slot for Harvey, who fired a neat wrister by Canadian goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens for her second goal in Olympic competition and her second in as many nights.

Abbey Murphy set up the next one, sending a behind-the-back pass from the end boards to the front of the goal for a wide-open Bilka, who made it 2-0 with a right-handed finish with less than three minutes left in the first period.

The U.S. made it 3-0 on a disputed goal 81 seconds into the second period with the referees, after a long review, ruling that Simms had pushed the puck through a mass of bodies in the crease and across the goal line. Canadian coach Troy Ryan challenged the goal but lost, earning a bench minor for delay of game.

The next U.S. goal was indisputable with Bilka blasting a short one-timer by Desbiens seven minutes before the second intermission. Abbey got her third assist and Harvey her second on the play. With eight minutes left, Edwards closed out the scoring from the high slot — almost the exact same place from where Harvey got the opening goal — driving Desbiens from the game with Ryan bringing on Emerance Maschmeyer to close things out.

The U.S. has scored exactly five goals in each of its four games, scoring in all 12 periods it has played in the Olympic tournament.

Aerin Frankel turned away 20 shots in goal, posting the third shutout in as many games for the U.S., which ran it scoreless streak to 151 minutes.

Canada was playng without its captain, Marie Phillip-Poulin, who left Monday’s win over Czechia after taking a heavy hit along the boards from Kristyna Kaltounkova that left her unable to put weight on her right leg.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion was listed as day-to-day.

MILAN — Brittany Bowe will bow out of the Olympics without a medal in her best event.

A four-time Olympian who said the Milan-Cortina Games will be her last, Bowe was edged off the podium in the final pair of the speed skating 1,000-meter race Monday, finishing fourth with a time of one minute and 14.55 seconds. Japan’s Miho Takagi bumped the 37-year-old American out of third place with a time of one minute, 13.59 seconds.

The Netherlands’ Jutta Leerdam set an Olympic record to win gold, clocking in at one minute, 12.31 seconds. She bested her own teammates’ Olympic record set minutes before to push Femke Kok down to silver.

Kok clapped with a resigned look on her face after Leerdam’s time flashed on the screen. Black mascara stained Leerdam’s cheeks as she skated around the arena, saluting the legion of Dutch fans that filled the stands at Milano Speed Skating Stadium. Her fiance, YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, was in the stands and moved to tears.

Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands celebrates winning the gold medal in the women’s 1,000-meter speedskating race at the Winter Olympics in Milan on Monday.

(Luca Bruno / Associated Press)

Erin Jackson, the 2022 Olympic gold medalist in the 500 meters who was skating through three herniated discs in her lower back, finished sixth. Racing in the 1,000 meters for the first time in her Olympic career, she clapped cordially at the end of the race. Bowe, who set the world record in the 1,000 meters in 2019, hugged her coaches before disappearing off the ice.

Already longtime friends, the Americans became inextricably linked in 2022. Bowe gave up her qualifying spot in the 500 meters for the Beijing Olympics after Jackson slipped during the U.S. Olympic trials. Bowe had already qualified in other disciplines. She knew Jackson had potential to win a medal. The decision to relinquish her spot was easy, she said at the time.

Jackson made the sacrifice worth it, becoming the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal in the Winter Olympics. Bowe, who still raced in the 500 meters after an additional spot became free, finished 16th.

Bowe instead relied on her top event, the 1,000 meters, for her chance at the podium. The world record holder in the event — which she set in 2019 — won bronze in Beijing for her first individual Olympic medal.

American Erin Jackson competes in the women’s 1,000-meter speedskating race at the Winter Olympics in Milan on Monday.

(Luca Bruno / Associated Press)

But the experience felt “empty,” Bowe said in retrospect. With empty stands during the pandemic-affected Games, Bowe missed the energy of the crowd and especially her family and friends.

Bowe wasn’t lacking for crowd noise Monday. The oval was encircled by a ring of orange. Dutch fans roared every time one of their competitors zoomed by. Even when Kok and Leerdam were warming up, gliding by at a snail’s pace compared to skaters during their race, the crowd cheered. They waved in acknowledgment.

When Kok crossed the finish line, she raised both fists triumphantly. Her time of one minute, 12.59 seconds was good enough for the Olympic record, but Leerdam blazed past her only two pairs later.

Bowe and Jackson will still race in Jackson’s specialty of the 500 meters, while Bowe will finish her Olympic career in the 1,500 meters.

Trent Perry scored 23 points, including clutch free throws down the stretch, Tyler Bilodeau overcame foul trouble to score 19, Donovan Dent had 17 points and 10 assists and Eric Dailey Jr. scored 14 as UCLA held off Washington 77-73 Saturday night in a Big Ten clash at Pauley Pavilion.

Ahead of a pivotal Midwest trip to No. 2 Michigan and No. 10 Michigan State starting on Valentine’s Day, the Bruins wrapped up their three-game homestand on a positive note after splitting the first two, a one-point, double-overtime loss to Indiana followed by a 22-point blowout of Rutgers in which five players scored in double digits.

The Bruins (17-7, 9-4) struggled against Washington much as they did in the teams’ first meeting Dec. 3 in Seattle, when they escaped with an 82-80 victory thanks to 25 points (including six three-pointers) by Skyy Clark, who has sat out the past 10 games with a hamstring injury.

A winner in 10 of its last 14 games, UCLA will not host its next game until a Feb. 21 matchup with fifth-ranked Illinois.

Wesley Yates III scored 12 of the Huskies’ first 16 points as they built an eight-point lead in the first eight minutes. The Bruins pulled ahead 25-23 on Perry’s three pointer with 6:15 left in the half that capped a 9-0 run, but Washington carried a 34-30 lead to the locker room — the first time UCLA trailed at halftime since its loss at Ohio State on Jan. 17.

Bilodeau, who scored only four points in the first 20 minutes, hit a three pointer 10 seconds into the second half and added another to tie the score at 38. Dent stole the ball at midcourt and drove for a layup to put UCLA in front 47-45 with 13:43 remaining and the Bruins gradually increased the lead while holding the Huskies without a field goal for nearly five minutes.

Washington crept to within 60-58 with 5:39 left on a layup by Yates before Bilodeau’s basket and free throw restored a five-point cushion at the 4:40 mark. Dent’s driving layup made it 67-60 with 1:33 left and the Bruins improved to 13-3 when winning the turnover battle.

Yates finished with 21 points and Hannes Steinbach added 13 for the Huskies (12-12, 4-9), who cut their deficit to two on a layup and free throw by Yates with 23 seconds left. Dailey got fouled and made both shots to make it 75-71 with 21 ticks left. After a layup by Yates with 11 seconds left, Perry sank two free throws to ice the victory four seconds later.

The Bruins were 23 of 29 at the foul line and remain on pace to break the school single-season record for best free throw percentage (75.6) set in 1978-79.

MILAN — Laila Edwards finally got out from under the spotlight and onto the ice for the U.S. women’s hockey team Thursday. It was a simple act, but one that made history.

Yet for Edwards, it was just another day at the office.

“It didn’t feel different at all,” she said. “It’s still hockey at the end of the day. Even though it’s the highest level, it’s still hockey.”

With her first shift in Thursday’s 5-1 win over Czechia, on the first day of hockey at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, Edwards became the first Black woman to play for the U.S. national team in an Olympic tournament. On a team full of record-breakers, it was a significant milestone, one that has become a storyline for the world’s top-ranked team.

“Cameras constantly in her face. She does a good job of whatever she needs to do,” said teammate Tessa Janecke, who had two second-period assists. “It’s very inspiring for us as her teammates, but as well as the next generation.”

And that, of course, is the point.

“Representation matters,” Edwards said. “There’s been a lot of young kids or parents of young kids who have reached out or I’ve run into that say, ‘You know, my daughter plays sports because of you. And she feels seen and represented,’ and that’s just really motivating.”

Just 22, Edwards is already accustomed to breaking barriers and being the youngest this or the first that.

In 2023, she became the first Black player on the women’s senior national team in any competition; a year later, she became, at 20, the youngest player to win the MVP award in the World Championship.

But if doing that has been easy, talking about it has taken some work.

“I could not do interviews or not talk about it, but then the story doesn’t get out there,” she said. “And maybe a little girl doesn’t see me, who looks like her. So I think that’s what’s more important.”

On Thursday, playing before Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a packed house at the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena, Edwards marked her Olympic debut by helping put the Americans ahead to stay, feeding Megan Keller in the high slot for a slap shot that Alex Carpenter redirected in a first-period power-play goal.

Second-period goals from Joy Dunne and Hayley Scamurra — both on assists from Janecke — and third-period goals from Scamurra and Hilary Knight, sandwiched around one from Czechia’s Barbora Jurickova, accounted for the final score in a game in which the top-ranked Americans outshot the fourth-ranked Czechs 42-14.

Still, the night belonged to Edwards, a player Knight calls “the future of the sport.” But she’s doing pretty well in the present too, having already won two national championships with Wisconsin and two world championship medals with Team USA.

Edwards started skating shortly after she learned to walk, then switched to hockey before starting kindergarten, when her father Robert, who played the game as a child, enrolled her and three siblings in a youth hockey program. By 8, she was so advanced she was playing with boys’ teams and for high school she left her native Cleveland Heights, Ohio, for the elite girls’ hockey program at Bishop Kearney High School in Rochester, N.Y.

Although she was a high-scoring forward in high school and college — she led the nation with 35 goals as a junior at Wisconsin — she’s proven versatile enough to play on the blue line in the Olympics. That’s a little like playing a running back at right guard.

“I couldn’t even imagine that,” forward Abbey Murphy said of Edwards, who skated a team-high 25 shifts Thursday. “She took it and she just kind of ate it up and she made defenseman look easy. She’s magic on the blue line.”

At 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds — making her the biggest and most physical player on the U.S. team — Edwards was well-suited for the move.

“She’s so dynamic, so athletic, you could put her in goal and she would perform,” said Caroline Harvey, a teammate in high school, college and now with the national team. “She’s just adjusted so well. It’s seamless. It doesn’t even seem like she’s switched positions.”

Edwards hasn’t made her journey to the Olympics alone, however, a fact she acknowledged after Thursday’s game. Although her father is responsible for her start in hockey, it looked like he wouldn’t be able to travel to Milan to see his daughter make history. So Edwards’ parents started a crowdfunding campaign to pay for flights and accommodations.

Jason and Travis Kelce, brothers and former Super Bowl players who also grew up in Cleveland Heights, learned of the campaign and quickly kicked in $10,000, allowing 14 members of Edwards’ family to come to Italy — where their cheers were audible every time her name was announced.

“They show support,” Edwards said. “And they’re really cool guys.”

After her Olympic debut Thursday, there are a lot of little girls who can say the same about Edwards.

Travel expert claims to have found the best time to book holidays in 2026 after analysing pricing data – and it could save you up to 60%

Booking a getaway is thrilling, but when planning our escapes we’re always keen to ensure we’re securing the best deal possible. Nowadays, many holidaymakers turn to online platforms to arrange trips overseas instead of visiting traditional travel agents.

This has afforded travellers greater freedom to make reservations at any hour. Yet an expert has cautioned that prices for identical holidays can fluctuate depending on what time of day you book.

The amount you fork out for your break could hinge entirely on when you hit that booking button.

Travel guru Rob.onthebeach shares his insider tips on social media, and reckons he’s discovered the most economical time to reserve a holiday in 2026.

Rob has scrutinised data daily to pinpoint the cheapest and priciest booking windows, right down to the exact minute, reports the Express.

Based on Rob’s findings, the most costly period to book a holiday falls between 9am and 10am. He elaborated: “Booking in those hours came in 30% more expensive than the cheapest hour of the day”.

Disclosing the most budget-friendly slot, Rob revealed it’s actually in the early hours. The window between 4am and 5am emerged as the optimal time to bag a bargain.

Rob explained: “Overnight, airline pricing systems basically reset. The interest and the demand from the day before all drops off, prices return closer to their base level, then as the day goes on more searches, more clicks, more people just having a look, and prices start to creep back up again.”

The expert conceded that most of us wouldn’t fancy setting our alarms for 4am just to secure a getaway, so he also identified the optimal booking window during reasonable hours.

He discovered that late evening – roughly between 8pm and 10pm – proves “noticeably” more economical than the morning price surge.

Yet if you’re truly after a steal, Rob pinpointed the precise moment that delivered the lowest costs. Rob disclosed: “The cheapest, single minute to book a holiday is 2:48am.

“Booking at that exact moment came out 60% cheaper.”

Despite his research, Rob cautioned that reserving at 2:48am won’t render every single holiday “automatically 60% cheaper”.

He continued: “But the pattern is really clear, if you really want to save money on your holiday, the early hours beat the office hours every time.”