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Chris Jones reports from Milan.
The Americans, represented by their fearsome women’s hockey team, took the spotlight in Milan on Thursday in a game against Czechia. If the nearly capacity crowd at Rho Arena proves representative, their reception at these Olympics won’t be as frosty as many believed.
There has been speculation that U.S. athletes could endure a hostile response at Friday’s Opening Ceremony, given U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tactics and Greenland ambitions, and local anger over the deployment of ICE agents in Italy.
That seems less likely given Thursday’s uneventful American debut.
No anthems are played before Olympic events — they’re reserved for the medal ceremonies — but when the U.S. women took to the ice for their warmups, they were met by cheers from the hundreds of Americans in attendance and silence from the thousands of others.
Some conspicuous reinforcements arrived midway through the first period when a small army of Secret Service agents escorted Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to a section of reserved seats, along with Vance’s wife, Usha, and their children.
They were joined by Tilman Fertitta, the billionaire U.S. ambassador to Italy, and former U.S. Olympic hockey players Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and her sister, Monique Lamoureux-Morando, advocates for the exclusion of trans women in women’s sports.
The crowd murmured, but the reaction was mild enough for the players not to notice.
“I had no idea they were here,” Kendall Coyne Schofield said after the game, which the U.S. won 5-1. “I think our focus was on the ice.”
John Wroblewski, her coach, also failed to pay any mind, but was more animated when he learned about Vance’s and Rubio’s presence.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “I love, love our government representation, that everybody’s pulling for us and everybody back home — it’s awesome.”
Vance’s and Rubio’s late arrival meant they had missed the chance to make a more seismic entrance. Immediately before the opening faceoff, arena loudspeakers blared the Village People’s “YMCA,” one of Trump’s signature campaign songs. A large man in the crowd in a pair of American flag coveralls danced away.
The same man started a “USA” chant when the puck dropped. It ended quickly, but it didn’t receive any kind of counter.
U.S. captain Hilary Knight seemed relieved by the gentler than expected response.
“Honestly, what we stand for, we’re America’s team in the best way,” she said. “Whatever political climate is going on, we’re just trying to have a positive impact through our play — and obviously show up and represent our country to the best of our ability.”
Vance and Rubio were in their seats for the opening goal, at least. The Americans, who had been carving up the Czechs, finally broke through and scored near the end of the first period. Now another unofficial anthem — Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” — rang out.
The vice-president was among the first to stand and applaud. Much of the crowd joined him, and so did the row of towering Secret Service agents seated behind him, to better protect his back.
With six minutes left in the game, having heard “Free Bird” again and again, they all stood up one last time and took their happy leave.
The opposition, on and perhaps off the ice, should prove fiercer when Canada meets their archrivals on Tuesday, one of the few women’s preliminary games that will be held at the much larger Milano Santagiulia across town.
Canada was meant to play Finland after the Americans dispatched the Czechs, but that game was postponed when more than half the Finns were exposed to norovirus, a calamitous and highly contagious digestive complaint.
Finland’s suffering raised concerns of a second sort of unkind welcome. Norovirus has famously turned cruise ships into battlegrounds; if it runs rampant at Milan’s Olympic Village — the virus is often spread through contaminated food and serving utensils — more than one hockey game might yet be affected.
The Canadians will hope to begin their tournament on Saturday against Switzerland instead.
The Americans, meanwhile, will continue their own quest for domination.
Because these Olympics are so spread out, Friday will feature four opening ceremonies across northern Italy and four separate parades of athletes. Vance and Rubio are expected to attend Milan’s edition, where they will cheer on their women’s hockey team once again.
The rest of the world must now decide whether it will, too.