The Athletic has live coverage of Canada vs. Finland and USA vs. Slovakia in the 2026 Winter Olympics men’s hockey semifinals.
Throughout the Winter Olympics, Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy is giving readers of The Athletic an inside look at Team USA.
At 28 years old, McAvoy, a former Boston University standout and three-time gold medalist in international tournaments, is in his ninth full NHL season. The top-pair defenseman to the right of Quinn Hughes is one of Auston Matthews’ two alternate captains at the Olympics, with Matthew Tkachuk the other.
Here’s his fourth diary entry, edited for clarity and length, as told to senior writer Michael Russo. His first can be found here, his second can be found here and his third can be found here.
MILAN — Last night was so inspiring, for our country and for our team that also aspires to win gold.
It was really fun to watch our women’s team playing such an incredible game against a great Canada team, win in the fashion they did and then have gold medals put around their neck with the national anthem playing.
We were at dinner, a bunch of guys on the team, and we had it on the phones, and then we got back to the Olympic Village and we all went to our team space on the third floor. When Megan Keller scored that sensational goal, there were a lot of jumps, a lot of happy yells and a lot of goosebumps the way it ended. It was just awesome. It was a really great hockey game. They had an amazing tournament. And that was the finish they deserved. But they had to earn it, which was incredible. I’m just so happy for them.
I know five of those girls through my sister, Heather. They all played at Bishop Kearney Selects together — Ava McNaughton, Haley Winn, Kirsten Simms, Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards. And then their assistant coach, Brent Hill. They all played there, and now they’re Olympic gold medalists. I know Ava, Haley and Kirsten through my sister, but I really know Caroline and Laila. I’ve talked to Caroline a lot at the Village, and she’s going to be one of the best women’s hockey players, maybe ever. And Laila, I feel like I’ve seen her everywhere in the Village and in these Olympics. She’s a superstar. Those two are so great and I love talking shop with them since I’m a defenseman. But my sister just graduated from Saint Anselm last year and she always talks about how amazing they were as players, but also all great people, so I’m so proud of them.
It’s inspiring to us. We want to get to where they got to.
It’s been for real since the moment we got here. But this next one tonight against Slovakia? You know what you’re playing for now: a chance to go to the gold medal game. But I think last game, just kind of reflecting on that, that’s a Sweden team that could win this tournament. They have the goaltending, they have the defensemen, they have the forwards, the marquee names. They just have everything there.
So to get that game in the quarterfinals, whether you want to call it a tough draw or whatever it is, I think it just prepared us better. I think we’ve gone through what I was thinking was a gold-medal-quality game. That’s what you could have seen in a gold medal game. I think if you flip the title of that game, no one would be surprised. So I think we’re just better prepared now. I think we’re battle-tested, and I think it’ll help us moving forward.
We just had a really good morning skate; now I’m going to catch the bus. We’re going to get out of here and get to the USA Winter House. That’s where our pregame meal is, so we’ll eat, then we’ll get back to the Village, touch base with family, kind of kill a little bit of time and then I’ll try to get in a nice, long nap.
These 9 o’clock games make for long days. But at least we understand the schedule now.
I can’t wait for that nap, though. I’ll tell you one thing I brought to Milan that I couldn’t live without: my pillow and blanket.
I brought my own pillow from home, and then my wife packed me a blanket. I haven’t slept on anything else.