It took until noon on Saturday, less than 12 hours before showtime, for the script to arrive.The opening monologue for Saturday Night Live, of all things, was about to become a turning point in a national celebration that had somehow gone sideways in the week after the U.S. won Olympic gold in mens and womens hockey. Instead of basking in the glory of twice beating rival Canada in overtime, players like Hilary Knight and Megan Keller on the womens side and Jack and Quinn Hughes on the mens side were fielding questions about politics and sexism.Executive producer Lorne Michaels told the players the show was going to have some fun with the situation.President Donald Trump joking on a call with the men that he'd get impeached if he didn't also invite the women to the White House drew laughter from some of the players and plenty of criticism. Their appearance at the State of the Union address after the women's team declined for logistical reasons also derailed the headlines and conversation further into politics.The celebration limped along to the weekend, where Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie was hosting SNL. Late in the monologue, he told the hockey stars how cool it was that they were all there together and Knight delivered a line for the ages:It was going to be just us," Knight said, "but we thought we'd invite the guys, too.Applause and laughter lit up the studio along with wide smiles Jack's gap-toothed version, too from those on stage. Two nights later, the Hughes brothers and Knight shared a couple of fist-bumps on The Tonight Show after Jimmy Fallon reminded them they all just won gold at the Olympics.The good humor helped reset a national narrative that had threatened to taint the milestone moment as the U.S. celebrated its first twin hockey golds in history. Getting from awkwardness to relief took a lot of work, according to interviews by The Associated Press, with dozens of people at multiple agencies, leagues and networks coordinating a a plan to put the focus back on the teams' accomplishments in Milan.The path to prime time started long before gold was assuredOn Feb. 19, a couple of hours after Keller's overtime goal beat Canada, employees with the Professional Women's Hockey League reached out to NBC the major rights holder for the Olympics in the United States, to gauge possibilities for a well-deserved victory lap. USA Hockey, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Wasserman, the agency that represents Knight, quickly got involved.One night later, when the U.S. and Canada reached the men's final, NHL VP of corporate communications Nirva Milord finalized a grid of every player on the two teams and his schedule for the following two weeks. While the Games were ongoing in Italy, Milord was plotting out how to move fast after Sunday's gold medal game with the NHL schedule resuming on Wednesday back in North America.We had to know when they were going to be off because obviously theyre not going miss a game, NHL president of content and events Steve Mayer said.Jack Hughes' OT goal came just before 11 a.m. Eastern Sunday. Pat Brisson, who represents all three Hughes brothers as a key agent for Creative Arts Agency, was swamped with requests.When Jack scored the goal, we got so many calls, Brisson said, estimating somewhere between 50 and 75 requests for appearances.Among them on that busy day was an ask from Saturday Night Live," which wanted the golden goal-scorer. Jack Hughes alongside brother Quinn was a perfect fit, and so was the combination of Knight and Keller. Nirva had the relationship at Saturday Night Live and immediately put it into action because we knew right off the bat, Hey, lets take this and run with it," Mayer said. "These are moments that when you have those opportunities, you seize on them.There were plenty of unforeseen roadblocks along the wayBefore flying home, mens and womens players enjoyed a moment back in the dining hall at the athletes village following the closing ceremony, with gold medals hanging around all their necks.Were telling stories, have a few drinks and just countless laughs, forward Matthew Tkachuk said. Its been unbelievable, celebrating with them them winning first was a great motivator for us and just becoming close with a lot of the girls on the team.The plan all along was for everyone to fly from Milan to New York, the perfect place for mainstream media attention for a sport that often takes a back seat to the NFL and NBA in the U.S. Mother Nature had other plans, with a blizzard bearing down on parts of the East Coast. The U.S. women were diverted to Atlanta and a decision was made to shift the destination of the charter flights carrying the NHL players to Miami. By then, Trump's comment had become a talking point along with his invite to Tuesday night's State of the Union speech.A majority of the U.S. mens team decided to go to Washington for a visit to the White House and the speech, throwing another wrench into the post-party planning. The women had long made plans to head home and were not going. Suddenly, scheduling was more complicated than anyone anticipated.How it all went downAfter Trump's speech, the players scattered to their teams with games to play, but the stars also had to keep some attention on media obligations.Keller and Jack Hughes each did The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN, with their agencies working to get them booked. Knight appeared on CBS Mornings, along with llona Mahers podcast, House of Maher."NBC had agreed quickly about SNL and The Tonight Show. It was just a matter of making sure it could happen.Quinn Hughes and the Minnesota Wild played Friday night in Utah, so he had some breathing room. Knight was on the injured list after tearing a ligament in one of her knees during the Olympics, but she still wanted to be there Friday night for the return of her PWHL team, the Seattle Torrent, after the break, so she took a red eye to New York.Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils played Saturday afternoon in St. Louis, then was whisked out of the arena and on to owner David Blitzer's private plane for a flight to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Then came a helicopter ride into the city and a ride to Rockefeller Center.Keller and the Boston Fleet were playing in Ottawa. She managed to make it in time, thanks to some transportation fortune. Lights, camera and a spectacular save of hockey's moment on the global stage followed. Knight and Keller did a costume change for the end of the show from USA to their PWHL jerseys, the Hughes family got to spend time with Michaels, and much of the angst melted away."The best couple weeks of my life," Jack said. To be on that and share it with the womens team, the mens team was just a pretty cool moment.___AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

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Team Australia infielder Travis Bazzana has yet to make his Major League Baseball debut, but he has already made MLB history. Bazzana became the first Australian-born player to be drafted in the first round when the Cleveland Guardians made him the first overall pick in 2024. Two years later, the top prospect is knocking at MLBs door. After finishing last year at Triple-A, where he had an .858 OPS in 26 games before his season was cut short by an oblique injury, Bazzana was a non-roster invite at big-league camp this spring. Hes far from a lock to make the Opening Day roster, but hes on track to be patrolling second base in Cleveland at some point this year. Before that happens, though, Bazzana has another debut to make. He'll lead his home country in the World Baseball Classic for the first time when the tournament kicks off with Australia facing Chinese Taipei at the Tokyo Dome. Two weeks before Bazzana left for Japan, I caught up with the 23-year-old infielder to talk about growing up playing baseball in the suburbs of Sydney, why and how he was drawn to the sport, the food he misses most from back home, the allure of representing Australia in the WBC, his 2026 goals and more. I know you played cricket and other more popular Australian sports growing up. What drew you to baseball? My dad played a lot of sports. He played rugby, cricket, baseball primarily, and he was solid at all three. Im the youngest of three boys, and they were around the field, Dad was around the baseball club, and I just took a lot of attention to it. I would ask my parents to hit tee-ball. I would be the bat boy for my older brothers and run around the field. I loved every second of just being at the baseball field and watching and taking it all in. It never got pushed on me, neither my brothers, but it became my identity early on. As early as I can remember writing about what I wanted to do, it was like I wanted to be a baseball player, and everyone knew I played baseball. That was just like my thing. I played all the other sports, but baseball is what I took a passion to. If I had a chance to sit down with free time when I was little, I was watching MLB.com highlights. How hard was it to find people to play baseball with in Australia? There are lots of baseball clubs and lots of Little League systems and things in place for grassroots baseball in Australia that made playing consistently fairly easy, but in terms of finding friends that arent at the baseball club to play with, like I didnt play any backyard baseball with friends growing up, really. Maybe when we had, like, my team meet up and do that. [TOP 10 WBC MOMENTS: What makes the all-time list?] But if I was with my school friends, it was rugby or cricket at the park on the weekend when we had free time. At school, recess or whatever, it was cricket, touch rugby, sometimes basketball, sometimes soccer, never baseball. At my high school, there were only a couple kids that played baseball and not at a high level, really. In terms of finding people to play with, it was like I would be going to the baseball field to do that. I wasnt playing wiffle ball, I was playing backyard cricket. Can you describe growing up in Turramurra for those who arent familiar? Its a very nice northern suburb of Sydney. Lots of good parks. Lots of good clubs for all kinds of sports. Good schools. Its a great spot. Lets just say the house prices in Turramurra are probably booming right now and have been. Theyre insanely high, so its a good spot, and I was lucky to grow up there. But yeah, if you walked around Turramurra, youd probably find some kids playing rugby and cricket. When did playing pro start to feel like a real possibility for you? I think when I was like 14 was when it really started to kick in that I was going to get a chance to pursue what I had always worked for. I was 14 when I was playing in the 15U national tournament in Australia, and I felt like I could hold my own with some of the older kids, and there was some pro scouting interest starting to arise. So that was when I was like, OK, I think Ill be capable to at least take some kind of path toward pro baseball, whether that was go pro or go to college. I really started to kick in the planning for that. Is there a place or type of food you miss the most when you're not home? One thing thats really cool about Australia is we have really good sushi for not a premium. You can find great sushi spots all around where you get, like, really quality rolls for $3-5. So you have lunch, get three good sushi rolls for $12, and the qualitys great, and theres no issues, and its consistent. Here, you go to a sushi place, and they charge you $18 for a roll, and youre like, from my perspective, thats like five times too much. Its rice with a little bit of fish. The upcharge here is big. They make sushi the very boujee thing in America, and it doesnt have to be. Considering this will be your first time competing for Australia at the WBC, how well do you know the other guys on the team? There are only a couple of guys on the roster that I grew up sort of playing with or against. The majority of those guys, it was sort of academies, Australian Academy or our state academies back home where maybe theyre a couple of years older than me, but all the best youth players would kind of get together. There are times when I was around some of them then. Most of the rest of the players were people I kind of watched on the mens team in the last 10 years when I was coming up that I hadnt spent much time around, maybe played a game or two against them in the Australian Baseball League when I was young before I went to college. I definitely knew who all of them were, and then I got to play with most of those guys last year in the Premier12 tournament. So I kind of know everyone on the team now, but from childhood it was mainly watching most of the guys. How much fun was it to watch Australia advance out of the first round for the first time in 2023? How quickly did you decide you wanted to participate in 2026? I was wishing I could have been on that team. I was in college watching, but I was in the middle of a season and hadnt really earned that right yet, but they did an incredible job that year, and people stepped up in huge situations, and that whole roster really played their role and did a great job. It was something that was on my mind for a long time, and that kind of cemented, This next tournament, Im going to get the chance, and I let everyone know that was what I wanted to do, and now its almost here. I know you dealt with a couple of oblique injuries last year. When did you start to feel right again, and whats your goal for 2026? The last oblique issue happened like the second to last week of the season in Columbus, so I went home right after the season and was doing rehab work but nothing very intense and a lot of just relaxing with family. Once I got back from Australia and I was finished traveling and was able to ramp back up, I would say I was feeling good. By Nov. 10, I was kind of clear of that, so obliques were clear by November, and I had a really strong build-up. Looking ahead, Im just trying to make the most of camp. Obviously, the big leagues are on the horizon, but its just about performing and continuing to get better and showing the big-league staff what I can do. Once its there, just enjoy the game, play hard like I have, and everything should take care of itself. Can you see the opportunity ahead? Yeah, 100%.Im in big-league camp and get to take reps with guys that have been there, done that, every day. I feel like its right around the corner. Ive just got to do what I can, and if opportunity arises, just take it with both hands. Was it a hard choice to leave camp knowing how close you are to the big leagues? Its something I thought about, but it was never going to shy me away from going and doing [the WBC]. At the end of the day, if I was going somewhere that was a cool event to not play baseball, it would make sense. But Im going to play on one of the biggest stages in the world. In my opinion, it competes with playoff baseball in MLB. I think if Im physically prepared, theres almost not a better way to get good game reps in an important environment to prepare for a season. So theres obviously a team aspect that Ill be missing here for like 12 days, maybe 10 days, and hopefully more if we go to Miami. But at the end of the day, if Im playing against some of the best players in the world, in front of 60,000 or 50,000 in the Tokyo Dome, whatever it is, I think its a positive no matter what. Hopefully, I can make the most of that and come back.

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