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Spend five or 10 minutes talking with any woman who has been fortunate enough to play for the United States national hockey team. At some point in that discussion, they will share why the need to make time for others remains so important for their sport because they understand the value of having a personal connection with someone they idolized.

Hannah Bilka knows what it means to be a young girl from a state such as Texas, where girls’ hockey does exist — but not like it does in Massachusetts, Michigan or Minnesota. Eight years before Bilka became Boston College’s captain, she went to a camp in Buffalo, New York, where she hoped she could develop her skills and maybe meet one of her heroes.

Bilka met her hero, and they took a photo together. Her hero then posted that picture on Instagram, where it remains to this day.

That hero was Hilary Knight. The same Hilary Knight who is a linemate of Bilka on Team USA.

“It’s cool meeting your idols and getting to know her and see she is such a down-to-earth person,” Bilka said. “I remember her being very interested in hearing my story, and that just made me look up to her even more when I was 13 years old. She is such a really good person.”

Players such as Clair DeGeorge, Abby Roque, Haley Winn and Bilka represent something of a convergence point for Knight. They are part of the generation that grew up watching and idolizing Knight, and they all have pictures with her too.

That Knight continues to influence the group, now as a teammate, is a testament to how much of a fixture she has been within women’s hockey.

“Oh yeah, she’s seen the photo. We have a Tik-Tok of it and I think I told her before I did have this photo at one point in life,” Roque said. “I remember we ran into each other at a tournament. I was in the high school division and she was in the post-grads. It’s funny because now I look at her and she’s one of my good friends here.”

Knight posed for a picture with Roque, who was wearing a red USA Hockey baseball cap when they were at that tournament. In 2014, DeGeorge was at the same camp in Buffalo as Bilka when she took a photo with Knight while holding her Olympic silver medal from the Sochi Games.

Winn was also at that Buffalo camp. In her picture with Knight, she wore Knight’s medal while holding an autographed picture of her and standing next to the real thing.

Bilka, DeGeorge, Roque and Winn each spoke about Knight while they were with Team USA during the Rivalry Series with Canada. DeGeorge, Roque and Winn were part of the US roster that swept Canada in all three games of the series in November. Bilka along with Roque are part of the American roster that will resume the series this month with Game 4 set to start Thursday at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, N.V.

All of them spoke fondly about the memories that came from those pictures and the new memories they have forged with Knight. They talk about Knight as an all-time great on the ice and one of the nicest people they have ever met.

Impact and longevity are not promised in life or in sports. Knight has had both. So what is it like to establish relationships at this point in her storied career with teammates who once idolized her?

“I definitely don’t think I’ve been around long enough to have a full generational moment,” said the 33-year-old Knight, who is also an ESPN analyst. “But clearly I have. I started at the program when I was super young and we did not have a U18 program. The senior team was the only team. But it’s so funny because [her younger teammates] are really shy at first and they don’t want to come over. Then, finally we get into a training camp and they’re like, ‘Hey! Do you see this picture? Do you remember this picture?’

“Then, it’s like, ‘Oh gosh. Here it comes.’ It’s a picture of me and them when they were super young.”

DeGeorge said she was extremely nervous approaching Knight and telling her about the photo because, well, she’s Hilary Knight. DeGeorge still remembers the moment of how her picture with Knight came together.

The camp was coming to an end and Knight was about to leave for the day. DeGeorge said her dad urged her to ask Knight for a photo.

“I got the courage to go up and ask her, which is so funny because she is so nice,” DeGeorge said. “I’m not nervous anymore. But at the time, I was terrified.”

Now here’s the funny part. DeGeorge has shown the photo to everyone else on the national team except Knight.

“I’ll show her at some point,” DeGeorge smiled.

Being teammates with Knight, of course, creates new memories. DeGeorge said Knight is always doing something nice for her teammates and expects nothing in return. She said there was a moment when the team was getting ready for a practice and there was some sand on the dressing room floor.

DeGeorge said Knight, without anyone asking, found a broom and cleaned up the sand so it would not damage anyone’s skates.

“Oh my God, someone noticed that?” Knight said with a laugh. “I think there are so many things that go into being a successful team. Every little thing matters. That’s so cliche, but everyone has to do something to make someone else better. I’m not here by mistake. I’m here because of other people’s sacrifices. You have to realize where you are in everything and make someone else next to you better.”

Being such a revered figure is something of a full-circle experience for Knight. The way her younger teammates talk about her is the same way Knight talks about her hero: Cammi Granato. Knight usually speaks with the poise and polish of someone who has done a lot of interviews. She delivers each word with a steady pace and tone.

Talking about Granato, however, made her speak with excitement, as if she were waiting to meet Granato for the first time. Knight spent part of her childhood in the Chicagoland area. So did Granato. Living in the Chicago suburbs gave Knight, who wears No. 21 because of Granato, the chance to attend Granato’s camp.

“I went to that camp, my stick broke and I got to use her stick,” Knight recalled. “That was so big for me in understanding that we are a small version of that in other people’s lives. It is pretty unique.”

And yes, Knight definitely took a photo with Granato when she was a child and still has a hat Granato autographed for her.

To know she could have that connection with Granato played a pivotal role in Knight’s youth and in her becoming the person and player she is today.

Reminiscing about her childhood made Knight think about another experience she had years later. At that time, she was still new to the national team. She was just Hilary Knight and not “OMG, it’s Hilary Knight!” One day she was walking to the rink with Caitlin Cahow and Angela Ruggiero when some young fans stopped Cahow and Ruggiero for autographs.

“I was like, ‘You want them. You want their autograph,’ and Angela roped me in and said, ‘No, you’re giving this young girl your autograph,'” Knight recalled. “It was that ‘You’re one of us’ kind of moment. That was such a powerful, impactful moment for me. It was like, ‘Oh my God. I’m representing our country! I’m here! I’m with these guys! This is my squad!'”

Knight said that moment helped her appreciate the importance of empowering young girls and giving them the encouragement that if “she wants to do it, then go out and do it unapologetically.'”

Knight is now passing down those same lessons to the next generation of players with the aim that those values can continue to help young girls for years to come.

Speaking about the future leads to the inevitable question of how much longer Knight will continue playing.

“As long as I can remember for example, that picture, she’s been kinda the face of women’s hockey, especially USA Hockey,” Winn said. “It is crazy to think there is going to come a day [when Knight retires] and I feel like she is still going so strong that her body is performing at an elite level. I can’t imagine a day when she does not have that jersey on and isn’t leading this team. I just know she is going to go as long as she can and everyone is going to support her.”

Knight said she has “definitely” thought about how much time she has left in her career while noting she gets asked that question a lot.

She initially thought she was done playing after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where the U.S. took home silver, the third of Knight’s career to go with one gold. But there was a discussion among the team’s veteran core that led to the realization that they want to keep playing.

Knight said she does not have a timeline in mind in terms of determining when she will retire. Her goal, for now, is to stay healthy and continue to chase “the 60 minutes of perfection none of us are ever going to truly have,” which still serves as motivation for her.

“I feel like I have so many years to do other things,” Knight said. “This is the only time I can do this right now.”

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Buffs coach: Stars ‘should be going 1-2’ in draft

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Buffs coach: Stars 'should be going 1-2' in draft

BOULDER, Colo. — For the horde of NFL talent evaluators and some bleachers full of fans, Colorado coach Deion Sanders said Friday that they all got to see the top two players available in this year’s NFL draft.

Quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter were among the 16 Colorado players who took part in the school’s showcase event for scouts, coaches and personnel executives from every NFL team. And Deion Sanders said the two marquee players confirmed what he has known for a long time.

“It’s tremendous,” Sanders said. “… They should be going 1-2 [in the draft], that’s the way I feel about it. They are the two best players in this draft. … The surest bets in this draft are those two young men, and I didn’t stutter or stammer when I said that.”

Neither Shedeur Sanders nor Hunter took part in most of the position drills or physical testing, but Sanders had a throwing session for just under an hour and Hunter was one of the wide receivers who participated. Neither player worked out at the scouting combine earlier this year, so it was the first time Sanders had thrown in such a setting since the end of the season. He showed some full seven-step drops and play-action from the shotgun and under center.

“I think I did pretty good, to my expectations,” said Sanders, who set the career FBS accuracy mark in his two years at Colorado (71.8%) to go with his 4,134 passing yards and 37 touchdowns last season. “I know I did the best in college football right now, for sure.”

Asked after the throwing session whether he believed he was the best quarterback in the draft, Sanders said: “I feel like I’m the No. 1 quarterback, and that’s what I know. But at the end of the day, I’m not stuck on that because it’s about the situation, so whatever situation, whatever franchise believes in me, I’m excited to go. … I’m comfortable in any situation.”

Players Hunter, who did not speak to the media after the workout, and Sanders met with the Cleveland Browns contingent, including team co-owner Jimmy Haslam, on Thursday night in Boulder.

“They got me really full,” Sanders said. “I definitely needed to go to the sauna after that. … It was a good vibe.”

Said Deion Sanders said: “[I] spoke to the owner, truly delightful. He was engaging. … I think one of those guys is going to be there [at No. 2].”

Hunter, the No. 1 player on Mel Kiper Jr.’s Big Board, did not do any defensive drills Friday, but he ran a full assortment of routes.

Colorado safety Shilo Sanders, Shedeur’s brother, offered plenty of encouragement, shouting commentary and clapping after each throw, including “not a lot of quarterbacks can make that throw” after one deep completion.

The highly attended event — by NFL representatives as well as fans packing small bleachers — had a festive atmosphere. Deion Sanders named it the “We Ain’t Hard 2 Find Showcase,” complete with a large lighted “The Showcase” sign next to the drills.

Hunter, who has said he wants to play offense and defense in the NFL, won the Chuck Bednarik (top defensive player) and Fred Biletnikoff (top receiver) awards in addition to the Heisman. He said whether he will primarily be a wide receiver or a cornerback in the NFL depends “on the team that picks me.”

On Friday, Deion Sanders said “ain’t nobody like Travis.”

Hunter had 96 catches for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns as a receiver last season to go with 35 tackles, 11 pass breakups and 4 interceptions at cornerback. In the Buffaloes’ regular-season finale against Oklahoma State, he became the only FBS player in the past 25 years with three scrimmage touchdowns on offense and an interception in the same game, according to ESPN Research.

He played 1,380 total snaps in Colorado’s 12 regular-season games: 670 on offense, 686 on defense and 24 on special teams. He played 1,007 total snaps in 2023.

Shilo Sanders, who hoped to show teams more speed than expected, ran a 4.52 40-yard dash after he measured in at 5-foot-11⅞, 196 pounds. He did not participate in the jumps or bench press that opened the workout, citing a right shoulder injury.

With all NFL eyes on the Colorado campus to see Shedeur Sanders throw, one player who made the most of it was wide receiver Will Sheppard. Sheppard, who measured 6-2¼, 196 pounds, ran the 40 in 4.56 and 4.54 to go with a 40½-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot-11 broad jump.

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O’s Henderson off IL; will make ’25 debut vs. KC

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O's Henderson off IL; will make '25 debut vs. KC

Baltimore Orioles All-Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson was activated from the 10-day injured list and will make his season debut Friday night against the Kansas City Royals.

Henderson has been sidelined with a right intercostal strain and missed the first seven games of the big league campaign.

The 23-year-old Henderson will lead off and play shortstop against the host Royals.

Henderson was injured during a spring training game Feb. 27. He was fourth in American League MVP voting last season when he batted .281 and racked up career bests of 37 homers and 92 RBIs.

Henderson completed a five-game rehab stint at Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday. He batted .263 (5-for-19) with two homers and four RBIs and played four games at shortstop and one as the designated hitter. He did commit three errors.

“I think everybody’s looking forward to having Gunnar back on the team,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said Thursday. “The rehab went really, really well. I talked to him a couple days ago, he feels great swinging the bat. The timing came, especially the last few days. He just had to get out there and get some reps defensively and get some games in, and it all went well.”

Baltimore optioned outfielder Dylan Carlson to Triple-A Norfolk to open up a roster spot. The 26-year-old was 0-for-4 with a run and RBI in two games this season.

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Life after OMG: Can 2025 Mets replicate their 2024 vibes?

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Life after OMG: Can 2025 Mets replicate their 2024 vibes?

When New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns attempted to assemble the best possible roster for the 2025 season this winter, the top priority was signing outfielder Juan Soto. Next was the need to replenish the starting rotation and bolster the bullpen. Then, days before pitchers and catchers reported for spring training, the lineup received one final significant reinforcement when first baseman Pete Alonso re-signed.

Acquiring a player with a singing career on the side didn’t make the cut.

“No, that is not on the list,” Stearns said with a smile.

Stearns’ decision not to re-sign Jose Iglesias, the infielder behind the mic for the viral 2024 Mets anthem “OMG,” was attributed to creating more roster flexibility. But it also hammered home a reality: The scrappy 2024 Mets, authors of a magical summer in Queens, are a thing of the past. The 2025 Mets, who will report to Citi Field for their home opener Friday, have much of the same core but also some prominent new faces — and the new, outsized expectations that come with falling two wins short of the World Series, then signing Soto to the richest contract in professional sports history.

But there’s a question surrounding this year’s team that you can’t put a price tag on: Can these Mets rekindle the magic — the vibes, the memes, the feel-good underdog story — that seemed to come out of nowhere to help carry them to Game 6 of the National League Championship Series last season?

“Last year the culture was created,” Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “It’s a matter of continuing it.”

For all the success Stearns has engineered — his small-market Milwaukee Brewers teams reached the postseason five times in eight seasons after he became the youngest general manager in history in 2015 — the 40-year-old Harvard grad, like the rest of his front office peers knows there’s no precise recipe for clubhouse chemistry. There is no culture projection system. No Vibes Above Replacement.

“Culture is very important,” Stearns said last weekend in the visiting dugout at Daikin Park before his club completed an opening-weekend series against the Houston Astros. “Culture is also very difficult to predict.”

Still, it seems the Mets’ 2024 season will be all but impossible to recreate.

There was Grimace, the purple McDonald’s blob who spontaneously became the franchise’s unofficial mascot after throwing out a first pitch in June. “OMG,” performed under Iglesias’ stage name, Candelita, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Latin Digital Songs chart, before a remix featuring Pitbull was released in October. Citi Field became a karaoke bar whenever Lindor stepped into the batter’s box with The Temptations’ “My Girl” as his walk-up song. Alonso unveiled a lucky pumpkin in October. They were gimmicks that might have felt forced if they hadn’t felt so right.

“I don’t know if what we did last year could be replicated because it was such a chaos-filled group,” Mets reliever Ryne Stanek said. “I don’t know if that’s replicable because there’s just too many things going on. I don’t know if that’s a sustainable model. But I think the expectation of winning is really important. I think establishing what we did last year and coming into this year where people are like, ‘Oh, no, that’s what we’re expecting to do,’ makes it different. It’s always a different vibe whenever you feel like you’re the hunter versus being the hunted.”

For the first two months last season, the Mets were terrible hunters. Lindor was relentlessly booed at Citi Field during another slow start. The bullpen got crushed. The losses piled up. The Mets began the season 0-5 and sunk to rock bottom on May 29 when reliever Jorge Lopez threw his glove into the stands during a 10-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers that dropped the team to 22-33.

That night, the Mets held a players-only meeting. From there, perhaps coincidentally, everything changed. The Mets won the next day, and 67 of their final 107 games.

This year, to avoid an early malaise and to better incorporate new faces like Soto and Opening Day starter Clay Holmes, players made it a point to hold meetings during spring training to lay a strong foundation.

“At the end of the day, we know who we are and that’s the beauty of our club,” Alonso said. “Not just who we are talent-wise, but who each individual is as a man and a personality. For us, our major, major strength is our collective identity as a unit.”

Organizationally, the Mets are attempting a dual-track makeover: Becoming perennial World Series contenders while not taking themselves too seriously.

The commemorative purple Grimace seat installed at Citi Field in September — Section 302, Row 6, Seat 12 in right field — remains there as part of a two-year contract. Last week, the franchise announced it will feature a New York-city themed “Five Borough” race at every home game — with a different mascot competing to represent each borough. For a third straight season, USA Today readers voted Citi Field — home of the rainbow cookie egg roll, among many other innovative treats — as having the best ballpark food in baseball.

In the clubhouse, their identity is evolving.

“I’m very much in the camp that you can’t force things,” Mets starter Sean Manaea said. “I mean, you can, but you don’t really end up with good results. And if you wait for things to happen organically, then sometimes it can take too long. So, there’s like a nudging of sorts. It’s like, ‘Let’s kind of come up with something, but not force it.’ So there’s a fine balance there and you just got to wait and see what happens.”

Stearns believes it starts with what the Mets can control: bringing positive energy every day and fostering a family atmosphere. It’s hard to quantify, but vibes undoubtedly helped fuel the Mets’ 2024 success. It’ll be a tough act to follow.

“It’s fluid,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I like where guys are at as far as the team chemistry goes and things like that and the connections and the relationships. But it’ll continue to take some time. And winning helps, clearly.”

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