If the Winter Olympics were a compilation album from a big musical artist, then the Games in Milano Cortina definitely had its share of hits.
The 2026 Games featured Elana Meyers Taylor of Team United States winning her first gold medal in monobob while her young sons with disabilities hugged her. Alysa Liu from Oakland, a frequent attendee at Vacaville’s Ice Sports, won a gold medal in women’s figure skating. Or maybe you enjoyed the controversy in curling or Alex Ferreira winning a gold in the professional halfpipe skiing.
But while the Games had plenty of hits, it still needed an encore, a standout performance, a “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by the Rolling Stones, “Biko” by Peter Gabriel, or “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day. On Sunday morning, the Games finally got it with the United States’ men’s hockey team winning the gold medal for the first time since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980 in Lake Placid with a 2-1 overtime win against Canada.
Not only was the win great (unless you’re from Canada, then I’m sorry but hold your head up high), but it pulled the heartstrings when U.S. captain Auston Matthews skated around the ice with the No. 13 jersey of former U.S. star Johnny Gaudreau — killed alongside his brother in 2024 when they were struck by an SUV while riding bicycles. Gaudreau’s kids were then taken onto the ice to take a picture with the team following the medal ceremony.
The game was a close contest, and in the end, Canadian player Nathan MacKinnon was upset his team lost, saying, “You be the judge of who the better team was today.” Well, I don’t have to be the judge — that’s why they invented scoreboards. If I were a judge, then believe me, there would be a man convicted of 34 felonies in prison. But that’s another story, for another day.
The Olympics are over, but I’m happy because I think more people will hopefully be inspired and check out Vacaville Ice Sports and enjoy skating around its rink, whether it’s to be the next champion in the Olympics or just to get in shape or have fun with friends.
I’m also hoping that after watching the U.S./Canada men’s and women’s teams’ sensational play, more people will get on board with watching NHL action. I don’t know why, but even though the NHL has existed for almost 110 years, it almost feels like a hidden secret. It’s so much better than the NBA. In this league, teams don’t sit out if they played the night before, and if you are acting too much and being a diva, then you get a right uppercut to the face and two minutes in a box.
So let the Thomas Gase Guide steer you in the right direction, whether it’s the NHL, college basketball, or a few local playoff games this week.
Local sports
Sadly, a bunch of local high school basketball and soccer games were lost in the first or second round of the playoffs last week. Thankfully, there are still a few teams left.
The Benicia High School girls basketball team defeated Berkeley and Jesse Bethel last week and will play Mission San Jose in the North Coast Section Division III semifinals on Tuesday. If Benicia wins, the Panthers will be in the championship game against either St. Bernard or Miramonte on either Friday or Saturday.
In girls soccer, Benicia has also made the semifinals and will play at El Cerrito on Wednesday. If the Panthers win, they will play the winner of Rancho Cotate and Terra Linda. The title game will be held on either Friday or Saturday, according to the North Coast Section.
Wrestling fans may want to make a trip to Bakersfield, where the state championships take place Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. One wrestler to watch is Aiyanna Beane of American Canyon, ranked No. 2 in the bracket for girls’ 170-pounders. She will face Nicole Chavez of Walnut in the first round on Thursday.
Also competing for American Canyon on the boys’ side is Lorenzo Seymore in the 190-pound division. Seymore faces up against Jacob Martinez of Palma in the first round.
No wrestlers from Vallejo, Bethel, St. Pat’s, or Benicia made the state tournament this year.
In college basketball, the Cal Maritime women’s team has won eight in a row. The Keelhaulers, the No. 2 seed in the Cal Pac Tournament, will play Northern New Mexico on Sunday at 8 p.m.
The men’s team plays in the first round on Friday against Pacific Union at 3 p.m. at Cal Maritime in Vallejo.
College basketball
Last weekend featured great college basketball with No. 3 (now No.1) Duke defeating No. 1 (now No. 3) Michigan in a neutral site game and No. 4 Arizona (now No. 3) defeating No. 2 (now No. 5) Houston on the road. This week also features a bunch of good games.
On Monday night, Kansas hosts Houston, while North Carolina and Louisville do battle in a matchup of top 20 teams.
On Tuesday, I would check out Arizona traveling to Baylor, Michigan hosting Minnesota, and Tennessee traveling to Missouri. Auburn at Oklahoma and USC at UCLA in a battle of 18-9 teams are also worth watching.
On Wednesday, I’d tune into a great old-school Big East matchup of No. 6 UConn hosting No. 15 St. John’s, while No. 7 Florida at Texas should be a good one. Ohio State and Iowa are two teams with at least 17 wins fighting for a spot in March Madness, along with Texas A&M at Arkansas, now ranked No. 20 in the nation.
A big local game is Cal hosting SMU in a battle of 18-9 squads fighting to play in the NCAA tournament. If you can’t make that local game, try driving just a little further east and watching St. Mary’s host Santa Clara in a matchup of two teams with at least 23 wins. That one is on CBS Sports Network if you get it.
On Friday, Miami of Ohio continues its quest to go undefeated, playing at Western Michigan. At 5 p.m., tune in as Michigan travels to Illinois in a game featuring two teams with tough losses this past Saturday.
This Saturday’s best matchups start with top-ranked Duke hosting No. 11 Virginia at 9 a.m., while UConn hosting 19-win Seton Hall is another big contest at the same time. Louisville at Clemson, in a matchup of two 20-win squads, starts at 11 a.m., while Vanderbilt at Kentucky is at the same time. UCLA travels to Minnesota at 11 a.m., while Kansas travels to Arizona for a 1 p.m. tilt on CBS. Nebraska traveling to USC is also at 1 p.m., while Cal hosts Pittsburgh at 1 p.m. and Texas A&M hosts Texas at that same time.
Alabama at Tennessee is a good 3 p.m. game on Saturday, while Oklahoma at LSU and Stanford hosting SMU take place at the same time. St. John’s hosts Villanova at 5 p.m. and Florida hosts Arkansas, along with St. Mary’s hosting Gonzaga, are the best late games. Purdue traveling to Ohio State is the best Sunday game.
On the women’s side, I’d tune into Michigan at Ohio State on Wednesday, while No. 6 LSU hosts Tennessee and undefeated UConn (29-0) hosts Georgetown on Thursday. No. 23-ranked Georgia also visits No. 4 Texas later that night.
No. 8 Michigan hosts No. 14 Maryland on Saturday, while No. 12 Duke visits No. 21 North Carolina on Sunday. Other games not to miss on Sunday are No. 13 Ohio State at No. 15 Michigan State, along with No. 3 South Carolina visiting No. 16 Kentucky. No. 2 UCLA plays a road matchup with rival USC at 3 p.m. that day, while top-ranked UConn visits St. John’s at 4:30 p.m. on TNT.
NBA
The Golden State Warriors are going to make the play-in tournament, barring an unbelievable comeback by a few West teams that seem to be tanking. The Warriors are without Jimmy Butler for the rest of the season, Steph Curry until probably around mid-March, yet they are hanging around at 30-27 — four and a half games behind sixth-place Minnesota, but also eight games above 11th-placed Memphis.
This week, Golden State plays at New Orleans and at Memphis on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, before returning home to take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday.
There are some other good games to watch this week, including the Orlando Magic visiting the Los Angeles Lakers in a 2009 NBA Finals rematch, along with the New York Knicks at the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday.
Wednesday is probably the best day for the NBA this week. I would sit down and watch a doubleheader of the Thunder at the Detroit Pistons, followed by the Boston Celtics visiting the Denver Nuggets in matchups that may feature the four best teams in the league.
Houston at Orlando is a 1995 Finals rematch and a good Thursday game to watch, along with the Lakers at Phoenix and the Los Angeles Clippers hosting Minnesota.
Friday is a good doubleheader of Oklahoma City hosting Denver, which comes after the Pistons visit Cleveland on ESPN. Saturday, I would sit down and watch Houston at Miami before the Warriors’ game, while Sunday’s best is San Antonio at New York and Philadelphia at Boston. Be sure to play your Commodore 64 game of Dr. J vs. Bird before this one starts. Finally, Sunday night features the Lakers and Kings, a game where you throw the records out the window.
NHL
I really hope people get into the NHL more after the Olympics, and wouldn’t you know, the San Jose Sharks are in town for three games this week, with a matchup against the Calgary Flames on Thursday night, and the Edmonton Oilers for a matinee on Saturday and a matinee against Winnipeg on Sunday. The Sharks enter this week just five points out of the final playoff spot.
The rest of the league returns to action on Wednesday, when I would sit down and watch the Las Vegas Golden Knights travel to face the L.A. Kings. That day, Toronto is at Tampa Bay, and Edmonton visits Anaheim.
The best Thursday games are the Kings hosting Edmonton and New Jersey playing Pittsburgh. Buffalo at Florida is a stellar Friday night game, while the best weekend matchups include Pittsburgh at the New York Rangers, Chicago at Colorado, and the Kings hosting Calgary on Saturday, along with Vegas at Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Read
“Farewell to the Last Golden Era” (to learn about the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates and Bill Mazeroski, who just died at the age of 89, some 66 years after his famous home run.