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US hockey picks first six players for 2026 Olympics

Sports at at Glance

FILE - Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews (34) consoles teammate Joseph Woll (60) in the final moments of the third period of Game 7 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Toronto, May 18, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The U.S. named Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy as its first six players for the 2026 Olympics.

General manager Bill Guerin said that group of four forwards and two defensemen avoids goaltenders because USA Hockey wanted to let the first half of the next NHL season play out.

Canada and Sweden also picked six skaters for their preliminary rosters. Playing in the Stanley Cup Final, Connor McDavid was among those chosen for Canada.

This would be his first Olympics after the league did not take part in 2018 and 2022.

Ex-MLB pitcher dies at 87

NEW YORK — The New York Mets say World Series winner and former Toronto Blue Jays team physician Dr. Ron Taylor has died. He was 87.

Taylor was a two-time World Series champion pitcher, once each with the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. After baseball he enrolled in medical school and became the Blue Jays’ team physician for about three decades.

The Associated Press

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