Intro for February 19, 2026
– 2 min read
Dear Gossips,
It’s truly a clash of the titans tonight at the Olympics. The gold medal game in hockey, Canada vs the United States. This is the date many of us had circled on the calendar going in, the marquee matchup in the sport. Or, as Hailey Salvian noted in her piece for The Athletic/NYT, it’s the “nastiest rivalry in hockey” - and for those of you who are unfamiliar, read that article to get up to date on the last THREE DECADES of animosity between these two teams.
If you’d rather watch, Hailey sums it up in this video below.
As many have already noted, the Americans are coming into the game as heavy favourites. But as almost everyone has also noted, given the history between them, given the hostility, and the determination and drive and skill on both sides…it’s impossible to predict what will happen tonight. That’s what makes it fun, that’s why anticipation for tonight is so high, that’s why participation is growing as more and more girls are lacing up their skates and taking drills on the ice – and those numbers will only go up after this tournament as young future hockey stars, inspired by the athletes they’ve seen during these Games, pursue their own Olympic dreams.
One of the most significant reasons that we’ve been able to see hockey played at this level is because of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). Not to discount the efforts of the professional organisations that came before which were foundational to the success of the PWHL, of course not. But the impact of the PWHL, founded in 2023, after the Beijing Winter Olympics, cannot be denied. As reported in USA Today a few weeks ago, ahead of these Olympics, “the PWHL is in its third season and has provided viable salaries, health care, dedicated training facilities and staff, in addition to year-round competition that has provided invaluable reps against the world's elite.”
Playing in the PWHL has afforded many of the top players the opportunity to focus mostly on their sport, instead of working part-time jobs and worrying about a lot of sh-t that pro players on the men’s side haven’t had to worry about in half a century. As US caption Hilary Knight said, “All of us are elevating the game and excelling more than we have before, just because we had absence of resources that we so strongly needed."
So no matter what the result is at the end of today’s game, ultimately it’s the sport that wins if interest and support continues to rise. The PWHL season continues after the Olympics and if you can, get yourself to a game!
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
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