Welcome back to “I’m Curious!”

Happy New Year, everyone!

2026 has offered no shortage of challenges. From federal street gangs killing strangers and abducting neighbors, to threats of wars around the globe to… whatever it is that’s making us talk about Greenland, there has been a lot to deal with well beyond our own front doors.

But hey, at least Indiana went from losingest program in high-level college football history to an inevitable winning machine that just earned its first national championship, right?

There’s waaaaay more other than that to get to in the newsletter this week.

Table of Contents

• The Most Curious Thing This Week: PWHL Takeover Tour

  • Game Recap: New York Holds On In A Tense One Over Montreal

  • It Just Means More: "Love Who You Want," Marie-Philip Poulin and "Heated Rivalry"

  • For the Young and Young at Heart: Childhood Dreams Realized

• My Reporting

  • NBA G-League: Hoops and Nachos - An Introvert's Dream

  • MS NOW: Analyzing the Renee Good Killing

• Something Good I Ate: NY Strip at Guerra Steakhouse

But first, before we jump in, here’s Peach!

The Most Curious Thing This Week

It’s the PWHL Takeover Tour!

Sunday marked a bit of American sports history, as 17,228 fans came out to the Takeover Tour hockey game put on by the Professional Women’s Hockey League, or PWHL, in Washington.

DC does not have a team in the league but this year marked the first time the PWHL, in its third season, put one of its touring games at Capital One Arena, home of the NHL’s Washington Capitals. A raucous, nearly sold-out crowd for the game between the New York Sirens and the Montreal Victoire made quite the case for DC to earn an expansion team in the not-too-distant future.

And this crowd was absolutely electric even well before gametime. Throngs of fans crowded the boards for pregame warmups, many pressing their signs against the glass. Fans brought signs sharing how far they traveled for the game (one fan had a sign saying she traveled from Atlanta,) cheering on their favorite players (one sign said “I just hope Emmy Fecteau has fun,” directed at the Sirens forward,) or begging for a team (one fan had a sign she brought to both Saturday’s open practice and Sunday’s game with the DC flag and the line “DC Wants a Team.”)

The electricity lingered throughout the afternoon. Fans went wild not just for goals, but for close chances, big hits, and scuffles after the whistle. They sang along with the hits, including one singalong of Blink 182’s “All the Small Things” in the third period that carried on a ways after the track went silent after play resumed. 

Even on the ice, it did not go unnoticed.

“When they’re singing along during the play, it’s just an awesome feeling as a player to just know fans are excited to show up and watch women’s hockey and see the product we put on the ice,” Sirens forward Sarah Fillier told me postgame.

The crowd of 17,228 handily cleared the previous U.S. women’s hockey attendance record, set by a crowd of 16,014 in the opening game for the PWHL’s Seattle Torrent in November.

“I think this exceeded everyone’s expectations and to beat the U.S. record as much as they did, is just incredible,” Victoire forward Hayley Scamurra said postgame. 

“I heard people at the [Capitals] say that was the loudest they’ve been all season.”

The pregame signs didn’t go unnoticed either.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many people be at warmup with signs along the glass for us, so you can tell there’s a lot of passion here in this city for all of their sports but especially women’s sports,” Fillier said.

Game Recap

The players also gave the fans no shortage of drama across all 60 minutes of Sunday’s game.

New York struck quickly, with a crowd in front of the net allowing Sirens rookie star Kristýna Kaltounková putting the puck past Montreal’s goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens just 1:24 into the game on an early power play.

From there, the Victoire had the advantage for most of the first period, out-shooting the Sirens 13 to 6. But it took until the final minute of the first period, after New York’s Paetyn Levis went into the penalty box for roughing, for Montreal defender Maggie Flaherty smashing a one-timer from just inside the blue line past New York goalie Kayle Osborne for a goal.

In a relatively quiet second period, it may have been the crowd’s acting-out of The Wave that helped score a goal. With five minutes and change in the second, both teams had a window to breathe during a TV timeout. As the two teams set up for the faceoff in New York’s offensive zone, the scoreboard urged the crowd to do The Wave.

It’s not entirely clear whether or not it was a distraction for Montreal’s defense but the Sirens capitalized. A faceoff win by Sarah Fillier got the puck to Paetyn Levis, who fired a shot that blazed into the net to give the Sirens a 2-1 lead. Levis celebrated the goal and was announced to the crowd as the goal scorer. But officially, the goal went to fellow forward Anne Cherkowski, who was the last person the puck deflected off before it went into the net, giving the rookie her first career PWHL goal.

“[Fillier] was able to scrape it back and we were able to get a great shot through,” Sirens head coach Greg Fargo told me postgame. “Like, nothing special but just good execution on a great play.”

Montreal had no shortage of chances to tie things up, but their best chance came with 7:55 left in the game. Victoire center and captain Marie-Philip Poulin just about sniped one into the net, but Osborne saved it. It was an incredible save, but the puck kept pressing forward, pushing Osborne’s glove backward past the goal line.

The original ruling was that it was a save and no goal but officials went to the replay to review whether the puck fully crossed the goal line on Poulin’s shot. It looked as though it may have, but Osborne’s dark glove made it very difficult to see for sure. Because the officials needed conclusive evidence of a goal to overturn the original call, they stuck with the original call.

“A shot that fast with a goalie glove, just trajectory, usually it’s kind of in, at least inside of the post,” Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie told reporters postgame. “We were told that it was inconclusive from the referee box, so they had to rely on the central station. It was definitely a tough one, for sure, because watching on the Jumbotron, it looked like it was in.”

Cheverie also complimented her team for using the near-goal as motivation, as Montreal still pushed hard for chances in the last few minutes. The Victoire even had a chance in the final seconds of the game, with a crowd of clashing players leading to a line brawl as the final buzzer sounded.

The crowd, which had already been actively engaged with the game in the final minutes, hit a crescendo as tensions on the ice boiled over, cheering raucously as the two teams capped 60 hard-fought minutes with a brawl. In the crowd, it was not clear whether Montreal had scored, but after about 30 seconds, New York goalie Kayle Osborne, who had removed herself from the action, began jumping up and down and inviting teammates to celebrate with her.

The referees handed down nine total penalties to eight different players at the end of the game. Although they did not affect gameplay, four players from each team received a 10-minute misconduct penalty, and New York’s Taylor Girard received an additional 20-minute penalty for leaving the bench for a fight.

It’s sure to give both teams a spark as they head into the Olympic break and the second half of the season. (There were also no shortage of Olympians-to-be on the ice Sunday. Montreal had nine players who have been selected for women’s hockey rosters for next month’s Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, while the Sirens had six of their own.)

New York leapt into second place in the league standings with the win, while Montreal fell to fourth place as Sunday’s loss snapped a three-game winning streak.

And It Just Means More

Beyond the record-setting crowd, there was so much more about this weekend’s festivities that left me with the feeling that a game like this meant a lot more than what was happening on the ice.

As you might expect from a professional women’s sporting event, it was quite the inclusive crowd. Having been to Capitals games, I saw a more diverse crowd than usual. Definitely more women and people expressing their LGBTQ+ identities, but also more Black, Latino and Asian fans of any gender.

This point hit home during one stoppage in the first period. The scoreboard showed a collection of fan signs and the two that got the loudest rounds of applause were “Let’s Go Lesbians” and another that asked “Cottage after this, queens?” The latter, of course, is a reference to Heated Rivalry, the hit new show about the romantic and sexual relationships of fictional gay hockey players.

The show, which has emerged from an obscure Canadian streaming service to become an HBO Max hit, has brought a surge of attention onto the sport of hockey.

And it’s pushed luminaries of the sport, which has many players who skew conservative and many traditions that enshrine toxic masculinity, to try to make room for new fans. It has even forced NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who just a few years ago banned players from wearing rainbow displays of LGBTQ+ pride, to talk about how he was a big fan of the show.

But women’s hockey, like many women’s sports, has long made room for LGBTQ+ expression. Many top players are open about their queer identities, with several players in relationships with each other.

I wondered what it was like for these athletes to be basically the models for a cultural phenomenon. I found the perfect person to bring that to: Montreal’s captain Marie-Philip Poulin.

Poulin is a queer hockey pioneer. On the shortlist for greatest women’s hockey player of all time, the 34-year-old has won gold in three of her four Olympics, scoring the game-winning goal all three times. She’s also the reigning holder of the PWHL’s Billie Jean King MVP award and the reigning holder of the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Female Player of the Year award.

 Also, she’s gay.

Poulin is married to her teammate and linemate Laura Stacey and built plenty of PWHL lore back in Montreal’s first PWHL game in 2024. On Twitter, a user shared a picture of Poulin and Stacey, then fiancées, celebrating together. One user named Marcus was confused and asked where Stacey’s fiancé was, saying “didn’t see him behind the glass.”

Another user replied, telling him that Poulin was Stacey’s fiancée, “she’s gay marcus.”

The line has become a running joke in the PWHL, to the point where Poulin and Stacey wore tank tops with a picture of the exchange on tank tops during their shared bachelorette party. 

One fan even brought a sign to Sunday’s game with the line on it.

With all of this in mind, I spoke with Poulin after Saturday’s practice.

“I think that’s the biggest part about the PWHL, you can see in the crowd, people coming and watching us is, you get in that rink and you’re yourself and you cheer for the team you love,” Poulin said. “And honestly, You can be who you want to be. You love who you want. And I think that’s the most important thing.”

For the Young and the Young at Heart

And the inclusive and welcoming attitude was about far more than just being gay. At an open practice in Arlington, VA on Saturday, a few hundred people surrounded the rink. They held signs saying hello to their favorite players, they wore jerseys they’d probably never have space to wear anywhere else. Dozens and dozens of young kids—many girls and some boys—got closer than they have likely ever been to pro hockey stars and Olympic heroes.

I could see it on display at Sunday’s game too. Little girls watched with wide, bright eyes as they saw someone who looked more like them play under the bright lights in front of a big crowd. One woman held a sign that said “I’ve waited 43 years for this.”

It was true for the players too.

Sirens forward Kayla Vespa grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, but she loved the Washington Capitals. Now, she had the chance to play on the very rink she saw on TV all through the years.

“I watched [Capitals star] Alexander Ovechkin and I just fell in love with his game, the energy he brings, just the fun in the sport, and just how he plays, and how true of a goal scorer he is,” Vespa said. “So I just fell in love with the game he plays and then I followed the Washington Capitals.”

And we got plenty of crossover between different leagues and sports over the course of the weekend.

For the ceremonial puck drop before the start of the game, former Washington Mystics WNBA player Tianna Hawkins and Washington Spirit defender and Canadian national soccer team player Gabby Carle joined representatives from the Victoire and Sirens for the photo op.

Two players, Vespa and Poulin, returned the favor by doing the ceremonial puck drop before Saturday’s Capitals game against the Florida Panthers.

And in a wild crossover at practice Saturday, several players from the Panthers who were doing their own morning skate, including star winger Matthew Tkachuk, invited Victoire and Team Canada goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens to come in net to take some shots from them.

Desbiens more than held her own, largely fending off the shots from a trio of Panthers shooters. I did catch one save by Desbiens on Tkachuk on video.

Tkachuk, we should note, may have made the matchup unfair by voluntarily taking on the “Trump Curse.” Many athletes or teams who have met with the president or earned his support have quickly run into bad luck. (See: the 2025 New York Yankees sputtering to an early playoff exit after inviting him into their clubhouse, Team USA hockey’s loss in the 4 Nations Face-Off final after receiving a call from the president, and the rainout of the Daytona 500 after Trump’s specially-planned visit to the race.)

The Panthers star is a known supporter of the increasingly unpopular president and happily joined his team this week in a visit to the White House to commemorate the team’s win last season of the Stanley Cup. The following day, and the night before this practice occurred, the Panthers were thrashed 9-1 by Carolina on Friday night in their first game since their meeting with Trump.

I’m not sure how well he would’ve done against Desbiens at full strength, but the Trump Curse didn’t help matters, I’m sure.

My Reporting

NBA G-League

Earlier this month, I swung by my first-ever NBA G-League game. It was a bizarrely-timed game, a Friday showdown with a tip-off at 11 am, between the Capital City Go-Go, the affiliate of the Washington Wizards, and the Motor City Cruise, the affiliate of the Detroit Pistons. 

The Go-Go play at the CareFirst Arena in the Anacostia section of Washington, DC. In an arena that seats 4,200, I could count about 100 people in the arena for the Friday morning affair. Officially, the attendance was 113.

It’s nothing against the Wizards or the Go-Go here, because while fans are more than welcome to come see the games, so much of this is about tuning up.

Players are here to stay in shape, either trying to work their way up to the NBA or on assignment to develop specific skills. G-League teams are often tinkering with offensive and defensive schemes as live gameplay tests of approaches that could be used by the big club. 

Even with the largely empty crowd, the scoreboard still showed all sorts of dance cams, contests and promotions with the fans who were in the crowd. The music still played and the calls to chant “Defense” still rang out. Everything here felt like a test.

And yet, there was good basketball being played. Sure, it was a bit below NBA quality but nearly all of the players on the court were standouts in college basketball or internationally, so it was well above what you might see in even high-level college basketball.

In many respects, it was an introverted basketball fan’s dream. You could pull up a seat with nobody around you, even just a couple rows from the court. You could roam around and see the game from so many different views, while clearly hearing instructions from coaches and encouraging words players gave their teammates.

In one particularly hilarious moment, I sat just past the end of the bench when Will Riley, a rookie on assignment from the Wizards, checked out of the game. As he headed down the bench, he gave the usual, low-key daps and fist bumps to teammates. But after he passed the last teammate, before taking a seat, he looked up and saw a woman sitting in front of him. She was an old lady holding a crate of nachos. The simple kind, where it’s just tortilla chips with cheese whiz on top. 

Without missing a beat, Riley reached forward and offered his fist to the old lady, who dapped him right up. I damn near fell out of my seat laughing but had to keep quiet because any laughter would have been noticeable to the entire crowd.

And it was a pretty good game. The Charge cut into the Go-Go’s lead in the back half of the fourth quarter, keeping things close until nearly the end. Motor City’s Isaac Jones led the way for all scorers with 27 points, while the Go-Go relied on Skal Labissiere’s 25, Will Riley’s 23 and Jamir Watkins’s 22 and 11 rebounds to hold onto the win.

But in a difficult week with so much hustling, the first full week of the new year and a week where I had to cover the killing of Renee Good, multiple ICE shootings and so much unrest, some sparsely attended G-League basketball offered a space for peace. With so much else stripped away, it was so easy to just focus on the basketball.

MS NOW

Remember how I said it was important to get some peace by covering G-League basketball? Well, right after that game I went to work. My assignment? Spend hours looking at every angle we had of the killing of Renee Good, work with a team to cross-reference all of the videos and build an analysis of the incident to lead our show, The Briefing with Jen Psaki. 

The White House had already been trying to spin the narrative about the incident where an ICE agent shot Good, seemingly in cold blood after she had tried to drive away after briefly blocking the road while observing ICE agents in Minneapolis.

We went through the moments before and after the shooting, explaining how White House arguments claiming Good was an aggressor and that the officer, identified by several media outlets as ICE agent Jonathan Ross, was hit by Good’s car and feared for his life.

Our end product was an eight-minute breakdown, where Jen explained basically frame-by-frame that no, a rational observer was not going crazy if they concluded that Ross used excessive force and had no reason to shoot or try to kill Good. 

It was a lot mentally to make. I’m certain that it will be a lot mentally for you to watch, possibly even physically disgusting. So please, if you watch, watch with care, but here is the full video of the story I helped make, where we analyzed the shooting:

Something Good I Ate

It’s back to the holidays, where I got hit by a major craving for steak. It had been a while since I had eaten a steak, especially at a good steakhouse. And I had heard for a while that they had a pretty good one at Guerra Steakhouse, down the road from me in Arlington, VA.

It’s a successor to the since-closed but much-vaunted Ray’s the Steaks, which closed years ago and used to operate in the same space, and is run by a family who named it for their family’s Guatemalan immigrant patriarch.

And their food is the truth.

I went for the 16-ounce New York Strip, cooked medium rare, with garlic butter sauce and chimichurri served alongside. For sides, I got the mashed potatoes and the mac & cheese.

The steak was cooked and seasoned perfectly. It had so much flavor and was the type of meat that melted in your mouth, not in your hands. I usually grimace at the thought of chewing through gristle but every bite was perfectly manageable, no cartilage in sight. The mac & cheese came out piping hot and was delicious, just the right amount of cheese. The mashed potatoes were creamy and the sauces served as perfect pairings for the steak.

The chimichurri added so much flavor and you can never go wrong with garlic butter.

The service was great, the food was paced well and although I’ve become tougher about steaks now that I know I can get a delicious one at home thanks to my wife’s virtuosic cooking, this one was worth the trip out!

Just a note: Any work here or opinions I express are solely mine, and do not reflect the views of my employer, my coworkers, or anybody else affiliated with me. The newsletter is not monetized in any way and everything in here is written and reported with my own resources on my own time outside of my working hours unless specifically noted otherwise. “I’m Curious” is just for me, the author, and for you, the reader. Thank you for reading. I’m glad you’re here.