Things I'm looking forward to in 2026

Maybe it’s where December is on the Gregorian calendar, but most of us get reflective on the year that was.

For all of 2025’s highs, the lows sucked more than usual for me. Almost (almost) as challenging a year as 2024 had been.

Keeping that in mind, 2026 is right around the corner and brings us a double whammy with the Milano/Cortina Olympic Games in February and the FIFA World Cup (in North America) in June.

That’s on top of the usual helpings of NHL, PWHL, NBA, WNBA, NFL, MLB, NLL, etc. It’s shaping up to be a good year for sports fans!

Of course with this time of year, the annual World Juniors Championship tradition continues.

As well, the Milano Paralympics will be in March! Especially after covering parts of them for my post-grad last year, the paralympics will certainly have my attention. Who can forget about March Madness? Maybe I’ll have a perfect bracket in 2026! Yeah. No.

So which one am I most looking forward to?

Come to think of it, I think the simple answer is Men’s Hockey at the 2026 Olympics. NHL presence will make ALL the difference for even teams as good as Canada and the USA.

Not having a Russian team makes sense (the world sucks), but that means so many talented players won’t be in the Olympic tournament. Here’s some of the names Russia could have sent to compete for Olympic men’s hockey:

Forward: Nikita Kucherov, Kirill Kaprizov, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, Ivan Barbashev, and Valeri Nichushkin.

Defense: Mikhail Sergachev, Dmitry Orlov, Ivan Provorov, Artyom Zub, Nikita Zadorov, and Shakir Mukhamadullin.

Goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky, Ilya Sorokin, and Igor Shesterkin.

It’s in net where Russia would have really, absolutely terrified any other team. Russia’s third best goalie is a stud. And I didn’t even mention this guy!

Not having Ovechkin and Malkin there is a real shame, considering they’re both at the tail end of their careers. In any case, lots of NHL talent will still be on show in February!