The Takeaway Check, Issue #101

"I'm feeling very Olympic today": Learning from my interviews with Olympians

Jan 23, 2026

In 2028, lacrosse will return to the Olympics for the first time since 1908 (excluding the three times it was a demonstration sport, which is a non-medal exhibition). I have thrown it out there before, but it’s a goal of mine to be a member of the media covering the Olympics in Los Angeles.

From what I understand, getting press credentialed for the Olympics is not an easy task, as they accept only so many applications, but I’ve been putting in a lot of work to build my resume and reels and be one of the preeminent storytellers in the sport.

Before Los Angeles, however, the world is preparing for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. With individuals qualifying for competitions, I can add two more athletes to the short list of Olympians and Paralympians I’ve interviewed to my resume.

The United States announced the women that will represent the country on the rink with the U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team, and I’ve interviewed defenders Caroline Harvey and Haley Winn for the New England Hockey Journal and New York Hockey Journal, respectively, and they both were great stories to tell.

Both Harvey and Winn were impact players for their respective colleges (Harvey, who is still at Wisconsin, and Winn, who graduated from Clarkson after the 2024-2025 season) immediately as freshmen.

That didn’t happen by magic. Sure, both are extremely skilled players, but they also put in a lot of work to get to where they are.

The profile I wrote about Winn was three years ago, but one story her college coach, Matt Desrosiers, told me still resonates with me.

Clarkson women’s ice hockey head coach Matt Desrosiers was at a coaches convention in Florida, when he was approached by a representative from RapidShot.
As part of the new rink renovations at Clarkson, the team put in a RapidShot system, which is a room that players enter using a key card. The machine passes the player pucks and then keeps track of data like how many pucks one shoots, how quick the release is, and how accurate the shot is.
Desrosiers recalls the representative saying, “Hey, we have to talk to you about one of your athletes.” When Desrosiers asked who, the representative identified Haley Winn (Rochester, NY). Desrosiers commented that she uses the RapidShot room all the time, but the representative emphasized just how unique her situation was.
“They were like, ‘No, we’ve never seen anything like it,’” Desrosiers said. “They were like, ‘Last year, she shot 35,000 pucks. We haven’t seen anything like that. That’s like three to five hundred pucks a day. That’s incredible.’”

For how talented each player is, they also know they have more to learn, and they took advantage of early experiences with the National Team.

Winn remembered playing for Team USA for the 2022-2023 Rivalry Series — a seven-game competition against Canada that stretched over weekends from November through February — alongside childhood icons like Kendall Coyne Schofield and Hilary Knight. Despite the status those players held, they welcomed Winn and made her feel comfortable, something she took back to Clarkson with her.

“The leaders there took you under their wing, didn’t think they were better than anybody else,” she said. “They were all just so business-like and focused, and things like that. I played a different role for Team USA than I do at Clarkson, so just being able to come back and appreciate everyone’s role, and own your role, and everyone on the team has such a big impact, whether you’re playing thirty minutes a night or three shifts a night.”

Harvey played for the United States in the 2022 Winter Olympics. As a freshman at Wisconsin the following year, the Badgers reached the Frozen Four and matched up against Minnesota. Wisconsin went into the third period losing 1-0. Harvey felt there wasn’t a need to be nervous though, and that feeling came from her time competing with the National Team.

“I felt like I’d been there, in a position like that,” she said. “I felt like I could be calm and talk to people. I used my experience, even though I’m young, and was leading in different ways.”

The third period ended in a 2-2 tie. Harvey sensed the locker room was tense going into overtime, so she felt it necessary to step up — even as a freshman — and speak out.

“We cannot be nervous,” she said. “We cannot be scared. I believe in every single one of you in this locker room. You guys have to believe, too.”

Nearly 17 minutes later, Harvey scored the game-winning goal to send the team to the championship game, which they ended up winning.

Wisconsin won the championship in 2025, as well, and Harvey scored a goal in both the semifinals and finals.

Dedication, effort, and learning from others helped Winn and Harvey rise to the top of the ice hockey world, and they’re the same qualities that can propel others to achieve their goals as well.

Maybe even becoming an Olympian (journalist) themselves.