By STEPHEN WHYNO, AP Hockey Writer

MILAN (AP) — The long wait for the best hockey players in the world taking the ice in an international tournament lived up to the hype.

Four of the seven games in the knockout round at the Milan Cortina Olympics went to overtime, including the U.S beating Canada in a fast-paced, back-and-forth final for the gold medal. The sport earned the spotlight it got in the NHL’s return to the Games following a dozen-year drought.

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“This is as good as it gets,” U.S. forward Vincent Trocheck said. “They’ve got to keep doing it.”

That’s the plan.

The league, union and International Ice Hockey Federation have an agreement to participate in 2030 in the French Alps, pending finalizing a deal with the International Olympic Committee. But the next chance for best-on-best country versus country competition is not that far away: The World Cup of Hockey is set for February 2028.

The NHL and NHLPA are in lock step on a lot of issues, including the aim of establishing an international calendar with this kind of tournament every other year. The IIHF is on board, too.

“The hockey world from NHL/NHLPA standpoint is in a better place when The Players’ Association and the league are cooperating and, internationally, when these three organizations are collaborating the hockey world is in a better place,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “And it gives us an opportunity to grow the game in places where we’re not as strong as, say, we are in North America and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with (IIHF president Luc Tardif) in furtherance of growing the game. That’s the goal, and the more things that we can figure out to do together, the better it will be for everybody.”

This was the sixth Olympics with NHL players since the precedent started in 1998 in Nagano. Skipping in 2018 and having 2022 get derailed by the pandemic had a lot of people in Milan lamenting the situation — but, in a way, the absence made the experience fonder.

“It’s been so long since the last one,” Canada defenseman Drew Doughty said. “Wish it had never happened this way, but here it is.”

The U.S. won gold in men’s hockey at an NHL Olympics for the first time, ending Canada’s run of two in a row and three of the past four. It was the country’s first since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” though the only miraculous part of this championship was how it took American Connor Hellebuyck turning in one of the best hockey goaltending performances in international hockey history.

“He was our best player by a mile,” Jack Hughes said after scoring the golden goal in overtime, missing a tooth or two from a stick to the face earlier in the game.

Hughes’ goal came less than two minutes into 3-on-3 OT, which may be the biggest thing from Milan that drew criticism and should change moving forward — at least in the gold-medal game and probably at the NHL and NHLPA-run World Cup.

Canada coach Jon Cooper said playing 3 on 3 instead of 5 on 5, which is used to settle NHL playoff games, is “not hockey anymore.”

“There’s a reason overtime and shootouts are in play: It’s all TV-driven to end games, so it’s not a long time,” Cooper said, referring to how games are settled in the league during the regular season. “There’s a reason why (3 on 3) is not in the Stanley Cup Final or playoffs.”

Following the U.S. victory and before the champagne and beer started flowing, players on the winning side had no complaints.

“Right now, I think it’s great,” Brock Nelson said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — A murder trial is underway for a Utah mother of three who published a children’s book about grief after her husband’s death and was later accused of killing him.

Kouri Richins, 35, faces a slew of felony charges for allegedly killing her husband, Eric Richins, with fentanyl in March 2022 at their home just outside the ski town of Park City. The trial began Monday and is slated to run through March 26.

Prosecutors say she slipped five times the lethal dose of the synthetic opioid into a Moscow mule cocktail that he drank.

She is also accused of trying to poison him a month earlier on Valentine’s Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich that made him break out in hives and black out, according to court documents.

Prosecutors have argued that Richins killed her husband for financial gain while planning a future with another man she was seeing on the side. Richins has vehemently denied the allegations.

She faces nearly three dozen counts, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, forgery, mortgage fraud and insurance fraud. The murder charge alone carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Her defense attorneys, Wendy Lewis, Kathy Nester and Alex Ramos, said they are confident the will allow Richins to return home to her children after hearing her side of the story.

“Kouri has waited nearly three years for this moment: the opportunity to have the facts of this case heard by a jury, free from the prosecution’s narrative that has dominated headlines since her arrest,” her legal team said in a statement, adding, “What the public has been told bears little resemblance to the truth.”

As the trial began Richins sat quietly with her defense team, wearing a black blazer and white blouse.

In the months before her arrest in May 2023, Richins self-published the children’s book “Are You with Me?” about a father with angel wings watching over his young son after passing away. The book, which she promoted on a local television station, could play a key role for prosecutors in framing Eric Richins’ death as a calculated killing with an elaborate cover-up attempt.

Years before her husband’s death, Richins opened numerous life insurance policies on Eric Richins without his knowledge, with benefits totaling nearly $2 million, prosecutors allege. Court documents also indicate she had a negative bank account balance, owed lenders more than $1.8 million and was being sued by a creditor.

Among the witnesses who could be called to testify throughout the trial are a housekeeper who claims to have sold fentanyl to Richins on three occasions and the man with whom Richins was allegedly having an affair.

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The state’s key witness, housekeeper Carmen Lauber, told a detective she had sold Richins up to 90 blue-green fentanyl pills that she acquired from a dealer. Lauber is not charged with any crimes in connection to the case, and detectives said at an earlier hearing that she had been granted immunity.

Defense attorneys are expected to argue that Lauber did not actually give Richins fentanyl and was motivated to lie for legal protection. None was ever found in her house, and the dealer has said he was in jail and detoxing from drug use when he told detectives in 2023 that he had sold fentanyl to Lauber. He later said in a sworn affidavit that he only sold her the opioid OxyContin.

Other witnesses could include relatives of the defendant and her late husband, and friends of Eric Richins who have recounted phone conversations from the day prosecutors say he was first poisoned by his wife of nine years.

One friend said in written testimony that they noticed fear in Eric Richins’ voice when he called on Valentine’s Day and said, “I think my wife tried to poison me.”

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — A murder trial is underway for a Utah mother of three who published a children’s book about grief after her husband’s death and was later accused of killing him.

Kouri Richins, 35, faces a slew of felony charges for allegedly killing her husband, Eric Richins, with fentanyl in March 2022 at their home just outside the ski town of Park City. The trial began Monday and is slated to run through March 26.

Prosecutors say she slipped five times the lethal dose of the synthetic opioid into a Moscow mule cocktail that he drank.

She is also accused of trying to poison him a month earlier on Valentine’s Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich that made him break out in hives and black out, according to court documents.

Prosecutors have argued that Richins killed her husband for financial gain while planning a future with another man she was seeing on the side. Richins has vehemently denied the allegations.

She faces nearly three dozen counts, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, forgery, mortgage fraud and insurance fraud. The murder charge alone carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Her defense attorneys, Wendy Lewis, Kathy Nester and Alex Ramos, said they are confident the will allow Richins to return home to her children after hearing her side of the story.

“Kouri has waited nearly three years for this moment: the opportunity to have the facts of this case heard by a jury, free from the prosecution’s narrative that has dominated headlines since her arrest,” her legal team said in a statement, adding, “What the public has been told bears little resemblance to the truth.”

As the trial began Richins sat quietly with her defense team, wearing a black blazer and white blouse.

In the months before her arrest in May 2023, Richins self-published the children’s book “Are You with Me?” about a father with angel wings watching over his young son after passing away. The book, which she promoted on a local television station, could play a key role for prosecutors in framing Eric Richins’ death as a calculated killing with an elaborate cover-up attempt.

Years before her husband’s death, Richins opened numerous life insurance policies on Eric Richins without his knowledge, with benefits totaling nearly $2 million, prosecutors allege. Court documents also indicate she had a negative bank account balance, owed lenders more than $1.8 million and was being sued by a creditor.

Among the witnesses who could be called to testify throughout the trial are a housekeeper who claims to have sold fentanyl to Richins on three occasions and the man with whom Richins was allegedly having an affair.

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The state’s key witness, housekeeper Carmen Lauber, told a detective she had sold Richins up to 90 blue-green fentanyl pills that she acquired from a dealer. Lauber is not charged with any crimes in connection to the case, and detectives said at an earlier hearing that she had been granted immunity.

Defense attorneys are expected to argue that Lauber did not actually give Richins fentanyl and was motivated to lie for legal protection. None was ever found in her house, and the dealer has said he was in jail and detoxing from drug use when he told detectives in 2023 that he had sold fentanyl to Lauber. He later said in a sworn affidavit that he only sold her the opioid OxyContin.

Other witnesses could include relatives of the defendant and her late husband, and friends of Eric Richins who have recounted phone conversations from the day prosecutors say he was first poisoned by his wife of nine years.

One friend said in written testimony that they noticed fear in Eric Richins’ voice when he called on Valentine’s Day and said, “I think my wife tried to poison me.”

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller said Monday that solid job gains in January could mean the central bank can skip a rate cut at its next meeting in March, a decision that would likely spur further attacks by President Donald Trump.

At the same time, Waller said last month’s pickup in hiring, when employers added a more-than-expected 130,000 jobs, could have been a one-time gain. He said he would need to see a similarly positive report next month to conclude the job market, which he noted was very weak in 2025, is improving.

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Waller’s hedging is a notable shift from January, when he was one of the two Fed governors to dissent against the central bank’s decision to hold its key rate steady after three rate cuts at the end of last year. The decision left the Fed’s short-term rate at about 3.6%.

When the Fed reduces its rate, over time it can lead to cheaper borrowing for mortgages, auto loans, and business loans, though those rates are also influenced by financial markets.

Waller also said that the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down many of Trump’s tariffs would likely have only a limited impact on the economy and inflation, and therefore wouldn’t affect his view on rates.

The ruling could have “a positive impact on spending and investment,” he said, but “how large the impact may be and how long it could last is unclear.”

Waller also noted that the White House is seeking to reimpose the tariffs using other laws, creating “considerable uncertainty over to what extent tariffs will continue.”

If February’s jobs report is similar to last month’s, “indicating that downside risks to the labor market have diminished, it may be appropriate” to keep the Fed’s short-term rate “at current levels and watch for continued progress on inflation and strength in the labor market,” Waller said in remarks to a conference held by the National Association for Business Economists.

“But if the good labor market news of January is revised away or evaporates in February,” he continued, “a cut should be made at the March meeting.”

“As things stand today, I rate these two possible outcomes as close to a coin flip,” Waller added.

The Fed governor also addressed a conundrum many economists have identified about the current economy: Growth is relatively solid, yet employers added few, if any, jobs last year. Waller said he thinks even the meager gains reported earlier this month for last year will be eventually revised to below zero.

“This would be the first time in my career, my life, that I saw an economy growing like this, and zero job growth,” Waller said. “I don’t even know quite how to think about this.” He added that hiring could pick up this year and largely resolve the contradiction.

Another explanation could be higher productivity, stemming from the pandemic, as companies learned to produce more with fewer workers.

Trump attacked the Fed on Friday after the government reported that the economy grew more slowly in the final three months of last year than in the summer and fall. Growth slowed to an annual rate of 1.4%, down from 4.4% in the fall.

“LOWER INTEREST RATES,” Trump posted. “’Two Late’ Powell is the WORST!!” he added, misspelling his usual nickname for Chair Jerome Powell, who he has referred to previously as “Too Late.”