Olympic reflections, thoughts, and lessons with Robert Tiffin

Let's chat about the Olympic hockey tournament with my good friend Robert.

With the 2026 Winter Olympics set to conclude tomorrow morning – USA vs. Canada for the gold medal if you missed that – we thought it might be an ideal time to unpack some of the things we saw, empty the notebooks, and have some larger discussion about things we did (and didn’t) learn during the NHL’s Olympic break.

Obviously this will have some Stars flavor, but the goal here is to have a larger conversation about the sport in general.

So, with that said, Robert, with just the gold medal game remaining, what have been your biggest takeaways or memories?

Robert: For starters, I’ve really enjoyed the schedule. I know for some folks in North America, the early-morning games (including the gold medal contest on Sunday) aren’t the most convenient, but I can’t think of any better reason to wake up at 5am than to watch best-on-best hockey for the next ten hours. Those were really special days, and I loved how unique it made the whole experience feel.

I’ve also appreciated the lack of excessive advertising (only minimal NBC digital board ads). It’s felt at times like we’re watching a stream of a hockey game meant for hockey people, rather than a whole production meant to entertain the masses. It’s just been cool.

As for the hockey itself, I think it’s been clear every player there has been leaving everything on the ice after every shift. (Though I suppose that changes depending on the score.)

What about you?