PTI - How MONUMENTAL was the USA's Win in Hockey?

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss USA vs. Canada, the Olympics, and Celtics vs. Lakers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. What a gold medal game between the United States and Canada yesterday, Tom. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

What better place to spotlight it than ESPN2? Huh? Wasn't hockey one of the, the NHL, one of the early things regularly on the deuce? Like 45 years ago? Wasn't that a thing? I don't know. I just know that we're on ESPN 2 so that people can hit golf balls. into a bed sheet, which I like, and you don't.

Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, the Winter Olympics conclude. Duke Topps, Michigan, and LeBron has some thoughts on MVP. But we begin today one last time with the Winter Olympics and the gold medal hockey game yesterday in which the United States beat Canada 2 to 1, on a three-on-three goal by Jack Hughes, one minute and 41 seconds into the overtime.

The U.S. goalie Connor Hellebuck turned away 41 shots in an outstanding performance, and Canada's Jordan Bittington stopped 28 shots for Canada. Canada, the United States, were expected to make the final, and they did. Wilbon, how did you like the game and the outcome? Tony, I hit the outcome first, because that's what everybody's focused on, even if people didn't watch the game, and he had to wake up pretty early to do so on a Sunday morning.

It was almost anticlimatic, as spectacular as it was, and as wanted as it was for the United States of America and the people who follow the team, the game was unbelievable. I thought the third period alone was just sort of the most sustained, great period of hockey that I've ever seen. And so I'm comparing it to, yes, periods in game sevens,

in game sixes for the Stanley Cup final. That's mostly what I'm comparing it to. I've seen some Olympic hockey in person. this surpassed that, and I thought that was great. So the level of play was astounding, the action, the end-to-end, Russia's were amazing, and the goaltenders, like you talked about. It's just the score, it seems, could have been like 6-1 Canada, given all of the saves made.

And just for the United States, so just by Hellibuck. So the goaltending alone is a story. And it's just, it's wow. I don't know how you get a better gold medal game and a better period of play that we got yesterday. Let me just say that in the East Coast, the game started at 8.15, which is not a hardship to get up on a Sunday morning at 815.

You're a couple of time zones away, I'm sure. I watched every second of the game, and I'm not a hockey guy. It was as great a game as you could ever hope for, it seemed to me. the goals were fabulous, and there weren't too many of them, and that's important because the goaltending was terrific. The goaltending, as you said, carried the entire game, I felt. It's odd because when I think of NHL goalies, I first think of Russian goalies, but they, of course, were not there. I held my breath throughout every power play. I didn't think the United States could get through the four-minute power play against them in the third period, and it turned out that Canada

committed a penalty as well, so they didn't have to get through all of that. I felt that the goal, the winning goal, was right out of a textbook. It was fabulous. Now, it's not Arousione. It's not, but it's in the environs, as we like to say. Here's this kid, his parents are there, his brother is on the team, and his smile of joy reveals all the teeth got knocked out about three minutes earlier in the game. I mean, it was tremendous, right? And it's a great win for the United States, because it's first time in 30 years that best on best between Canada the United States that the United States won.

My small quibble, Mike, is with three on three. It's a very small quibble. You don't like it much? If I ran the world... No, I loved it. But if I ran the world, I'd have gone 15 or 20 minutes of five-on-five to get the three-on-three.

I wouldn't have gone three-on-three just as an expedience to end the game. I found myself agreeing with the Canadian coach who said, when you take four players off the ice, hockey is not hockey. anymore, but it's a small quibble. I am totally satisfied by that experience.

It was great. I don't even have that quibble tone because I think the three-on-three is a lot closer to five-on-five than penalty shots, than shoot-out. And I know that's not the way it's decided, but three-on-three, wow, we saw, in Canada, benefited to get there from a three-on-three goal in overtime. So, you know, they better not quibble either. Yeah, the game before. So I don't want to, I'm with you.

I can see a small quibble. I don't even have that because I find it breathtaking. Absolutely breathtaking, the whole thing. So let's zoom out to look at these winter games as a whole. Alyssa Liu ended a 24-year gold medal drought in women's figure skating for the United States. Ilya Malinen, the Quad God, one-team goal but fell apart in men's singles, placed eighth.

A gruesome injury ended Lindsey Vaughn's odds-defying Olympic run. Michaela Schifrin hurtled her mental block and skied the goal in her final race. So these are just a few of the biggest stories, American stories, Tony. How are you going to remember the games? All right. You and I have been to Winter Olympics. We know what they're about. I don't want to sound like a downer because I really like the Winter Olympics.

But for me, early on, all of those disappointments took a toll on me. Let's start with Lindsey Yvonne. That was the first one. She has that terrible crash. The quad god, as you said, he falls twice. He doesn't get on to the podium. Michaela Schiffrin, her first two races, is way out of the money. She's not even close to the podium.

Chloe Kim, silver instead of gold. And so this builds up in me. Now, I understand it got better second week. Michaela Schifrin had the most dominating slalom race into anybody's memory, the most dominating. As you said, Alyssa Lou, she wins for the last. the first time in that event since Sarah Hughes in 2002. Men's and Women's Hockey win gold in overtime against a big rival, against the number one rival, Canada.

So it begins to balance out. But I have to say there was a certain deflation for me early that made it hard for me to embrace what happened the rest of the way. Elena Myers, right? Is that her name? I believe that's her name. She won in the bobsled, an American, and Stoltz won a couple of speed skating races. but I had more negatives than positives.

I did. Yeah, a couple of the reactions. One, I love being at the Olympics, Tony. As you know, it's different. You consume them differently. I don't just consume American news when I'm at the Olympics. I get to see up close

and identify international athletes that I would not if I was sitting in my house in front of a television, which is how I consume them now. So that is always, missing and I'm just not into the only American stories. It's not exclusively the American Olympics to me. I cannot get away, particularly with this latest post from Lindsay Vaughn,

the fall, which could have been, I mean, it was devastating as it was athletically, competitively. It could have been worse than that. It could have been tragic. And she has posted. And so I hear that going into these games, Lindsay Vaughn, because we've known her from so many Olympic Games and World Championships and her public people magazine sort of life in the United States of America, maybe worldwide. We know her. And in my case, I've met her once. I was going to root for her. And she's not in. She's not in very long. And now we get this updated account. And I'm just like, whoa, whoa, I need to move to something else here because I'm just glad that it sounds like she's going to be okay. That's what I leave these games hoping for.

Let me make a correction. It's Elena Myers-Taylor who won in the Bob Slet event, and I will just say briefly, I know you don't watch the figure skating. I love the pairs figure skating. Love it. Love to watch it. Thought we got completely hosed in the ice dancing. And I like most of it, although it's made-up events. I mean, curling is not made up.

It's probably still going on. Cross-country skiing probably still going on. Let's move to college basketball and the terrific games that went on over the weekend among high-ranking teams. Number three, Duke beat number one Michigan, Saturday evening in Washington, D.C. Number four, Arizona beat number two, Houston in Houston. Number six, Iowa State lost at number 23, BYU, and number eight, Kansas, lost at home by 16 to unranked Cincinnati. That is the most lopsided home loss to an unranked team in Bill's self's 23 years in Lawrence, Kansas.

Well, and, after all that, who would you make the number one seed right now? Duke. I'd make Duke the overall number one over in Michigan, the next number one. If I'm ranking them one, two, three, four, I'd go Duke, Michigan. And then their arguments other way. You know, I think the AP put Arizona third. I'm fine with that. So Arizona and Houston would be in that mix, right? So that would be, but one and two, my top number one C, would be Duke and Michigan. That game was incredible, Tony. And I found myself looking at that game more for the individual players. Because we're going to get to March. We have plenty of time for that. I wanted to see the players.

We talked to Jay Billis a few days ago about how many players. He mentioned 20. And I certainly agree, just watching all weekend long, not just those games Saturday afternoon, but AJ DeBancke on Saturday night, I believe it was, for BYU. There's a whole slew of players out there. Cincinnati's got a kid. There's a slew of players and I wanted to individually identify them. So when we get to March, I think I hope I know what I'm seeing, but to answer your question, Duke would be my top seat. Yeah, if they're at 20, then you

don't have to tank. And if there are 20, you can just flatten all the odds for the teams that are in the lottery if there were 20. Maybe they're at 20. I, too, would put Duke number one, because it's very impressive that they beat Michigan on a neutral court because Michigan was the number one team. You know, Duke's got a couple of losses, but one of them, I believe, is to Iowa State, who I think beat Arizona at Arizona at some point. Is that in my notes? Yeah. And then they also lost to a blood rival, North Carolina in Chapel Hill. So they're one. I would differ with you. I would have Arizona too. I think the AP has Arizona to, because Arizona beat Houston and Houston. Here's who else Arizona has beaten this year already, Mike. Florida, Yukon, Alabama, and BYU. And that's very impressive.

I would slide Michigan in there right at three, and I would acknowledge that Michigan had an incredibly difficult back-to-back Purdue and Duke. You know, coming out one-and-one on that is not bad at all. So that would be my top three. I will say this, that I'm getting very anxious for March and for the tournament, because in the last couple of weeks, we have had really good teams playing really good teams all the time. We've been able to see this. It's going to continue like that. And there are teams I haven't really dwelt on. Like Yukon, for example, and St. John's has won 13 in a row. Florida, you know, I think, believe the defending champion.

So with football out of the way and the Olympics out of the way, I got to have something to watch. So why not watch this? You got Houston, Kansas. You got Houston, Kansas tonight. Yeah. In case you're not interested in Piston Spurs, you got that. I think Arizona gets Iowa State and Kansas at home in the next couple of weeks. the guy who backed up the tournament at Pebble Beach

and he backed it up by waiting to take a shot, he wins at Riviera. Bridgman. And is LeBron right that Jalen Brown is being overlooked as an MVP candidate? There's good ball. There's good ball tonight. No let up.

Two good games tonight. Let's find out what's bumping with the bottom feeders in mail time. I'm going to get the first one. I'm going to go to the glasses here. Okay, here we go. How are you feeling about the golfing who criticized for taking so long last week at Pebble, winning this week at Riviera? Tony, the drama made it just fine. As you know, the drama trying to sink a put and not look like you and me on a Sunday afternoon playing for money.

When you wanted to have admitting your hands, you couldn't even feel your hands, not your hands were shaking, you couldn't feel them. Wow, that's an admission. I love that. That makes it more appealing to me. I want to hear you, by the way, because even though I was annoyed by standing on the beach for like 40 minutes, he made you crazy because he did that a week ago.

But to me, Tony, he's more appealing as an athlete when you have that kind of thing happen to you before you've won, before you've conquered the big stage, and you admit it, loved it. I tip my hat to Jacob Bridgman, who I always referred to as Jewish. for obvious reasons. I knew he was not going to have his feet in the Pacific Ocean trying to hit the ball over the rocks out of the sand like he had at Pebble. At Riviera, you can see it,

but you're not anywhere near it, you know, and what seemed to take hours and hours and hours. But he went wire to wire at Riviera. He had a six-shot lead going into the final round on Sunday, and nobody was really pressing him. Kittiyama and McElroy, certainly Kittiyama, missed makeable birdie putts. And I thought McElroy missed makeable birdie putts. The pressure was all internal. Bridgman backed up. He backed up his last 11 holes.

He had 10 pars in a bogey. But then, Mike, as we've talked about, he hit that great second shot on 18. It's a great shot. And then his putt, you heard in the booth, they said, oh, no. It was like almost five feet short. But he made good for him.

He made the whole thing. And as you said, He said I couldn't even feel my hands. Yeah, that's nervous. That's nervous. Last one. Here we go. Is LeBron, I need glasses,

is LeBron right that Jalen Brown is being overlooked in the MVP conversation? I think so, Tony. Not wildly overlooked. Somebody asked LeBron about this yesterday. The Celtics sort of, you know, gave the Lakers a Smackdown in L.A. I, and I do vote, and I'm not, I don't even have a, like, a ballot in my head yet, but I'll put one in there now. And I probably would go Kate Cunningham one. Jalen Brown would be no lower than third, because I got Wimbabonyama in somewhere in there, probably fourth for Wembaugh, and Nukkah, and Nekoli Yolkich might be second.

So those four guys would be in the mix, and Jalen Brown could be second, third, or fourth. So I wouldn't have him as low as sixth, like apparently is the case now in some of these straw poles. So I'm with LeBron. Two-way player. You've mentioned early on, kudos to you. The Celtics look great because of Jalen Brown, and they do. That's right. That's right.

Yeah. So, I mean, I don't know who LeBron is listening to. I don't know what LeBron is seeing. But I don't know how you can have a ballot and not have Cade Cunningham and Jalen Brown actually at the top of it. I mean, what are you watching? Kate Cunningham is the best player on the team with the best record. in the NBA. Jalen Brown is the best player on the most surprising team in the NBA, a team without its best player, without Jason Tatum. They're up there. They're elevated because of Jalen Brown.

I know you slurp Wembenyama all the time, but I don't believe Wemba Njama is more valuable this year than Jalen Brown. Jalen Brown, he has stepped up. I mean, what, look, when you talk about Gilgis Alexander and Yolich and Luca, they are doing what they're supposed to do. We know who says that supposed to do. This guy is exceeding expectations, Jalen Brown. I'm Jalen Brown is either one or two for me and Cunningham is here. What, Tony, I said one, two, or three, so it's not like we're a massive disagreement there. No, Jalen Brown's having a hell of season. By the way, don't mention Luca. No, no, Luca doesn't even get, no, Luca's not first team all-in-b. I don't care about 32 points a game. The Lakers are like the 12th out of all the playoff teams, and I guess there's

going to be 16 of them. The Lakers are no higher than 12. He's playing with LeBron. He's playing with Austin Reeves. No, no, no, don't want to hear it. Enough email. Let's take one last break still to come Angel's owner, Ardy Moreno, wonders how much fans care about winning. Well, if you put a winning product out there, they'd show you. Been a while since they've done that. And who has the edge when the Spurs with Wimbaiyama, who Tony doesn't like yet, face the pistons tonight. Happy time. People. Happy 70. fifth birthday Ed, Too Tall Jones. History lesson, kids. Back in the days when the Dallas Cowboys were legitimately good and not part of the endless morning show hype machine, Too Tall Jones is one of

their true stars. He was the first overall draft pick in 1974 out of Tennessee State, a perfect pick for a defensive-minded coach like Tom Landry. Jones was a star defensive end for 15 years in Dallas and anchored the defensive line on the Cowboys Super Bowl 12 championship team that beat Denver. Jones was 6'9. Got his nickname in college because his football pants didn't fit, and his teammates said he was, quote, too tall to play football. Too Tall Jones and Randy White on that defensive line, Tony.

Hall of Famers. How you block that? I mean, I don't know. There's a lot of terrific edge rushers and all of that. But them two dudes on one defensive line, I remember now I was pretty young in the business, not even a teenager, Don't want to block them.

Happy anniversary Rex Chapman on this day 30 years ago, while with the heap, Chapman dropped 39 points on the visiting Chicago Bulls, including nine of 10 from three-point range to lead an underman Miami team with only eight eligible players to an upset over the Bulls team that ended up 72 and 10 in NBA champions.

Chapman's 39 was the boast against the Bulls all season. Chapman later told Rich Eisen, quote, The Bulls treated the trip to Miami like a mini vacation. They were out all night long in South Beach. I know because I was with them part of the night. They swept us out of the playoffs in three games like we were a JV team, but we got them that one night. They'd be 73 and 9 if not for us.

There was one more surprising loss the Bulls had that year. Toronto, which was 17 and 49, beat the Bulls who at the time were 60 and 7 in that record set a year. But Rex Chapman, Tony, if he was coming along now with his ability to shoot and shoot it from deep. Rex was born too early, as our friend Charles Barkley likes to say, I mean, Rex would be an even bigger star now if he would say 22 years old. Happy Trails, Dylan Brooks. The Sun's forward broke his left hand Saturday night against the Magic

and will be out four to six weeks. Brooks is known for his defense and his many technical fouls, but this year he's up to scoring average by nearly seven points to 21 a game. His play was one of the catalysts for the Sun's surprising, rise in the standings. The 33 and 25, seventh in the West, under first year head coach Jordan Ott. But with Brooks out and Devin Booker sidelined at least a week with a hip strain, sons could be setting. Tony Brooks has probably been the MVP of that team. Who saw that coming? But now to sort of hold the fort while he's out that long, you're right. It seems

very unlikely. One correction. Duke lost to Texas Tech, not Iowa State. That's my bad. Let's go to the big finish quickly. Let's do it. Kevin Durant. Plans on playing in the 2008 summer games in L.A. Are you surprised? No, no, no, Kevin Durant likes to play. Every day, if you let him, you might say on a playground near your kid's school. He likes to play. Pat Riley got a bronze statue outside the Lakers Arena.

That makes sense to you, doesn't it? Do you ever hear of three Pete? That's Riles. You know, Messey and into Miami lost their MLS opener to L.A.F.C., you disappointed? No, no, no, magic's team. 75,000 plus fans at the LA Coliseum. Second biggest crowd in league history tone. Angels owner, Artie Moreno, said fans want affordability and security,

and winning isn't in their top five. You agree with that? Sell the team. Sell the team to someone who wants to win. Sell it. Last one, Spurs at Pistons tonight. Who you got? Pistons have won five straight.

Spurs have won eight straight. I'm just going home court advantage with the Pistons, tone. We're out of time, trying to do better the next time. I'm Tony Cornhizer. You see this flag. It's for the victory in the hockey game. I'm Mike Wilbaum. We're on the deuce again tomorrow, knuckleheads.

You can get the podcast or Apple podcast. Goodbye.