MILAN (AP) — U.S. hockey defender Haley Winn 's three older brothers are her biggest, loudest and most colorful fans. To say the Winn brothers have shown pride for their baby sister at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics would be a vast understatement.
They churn out goofy viral videos in several outfits to cheer her and her teammates on: In some, they deck themselves out in American flag-patterned jackets and matching bucket hats and narrate the game's
results, including sister Haley's first goal.
In others, they wear red, white and blue jumpsuits and cover their entire heads with bald eagle masks and simulate tabletop curling with an Aperol spritz and a napkin.
Many of their videos are set in the arena’s stands or in an alley outside their rented Milan apartment. But even as they have been loud and proud ahead of Team USA's gold medal game on Thursday, they have a message for the hundreds of thousands of social media users tuning in to their Olympic antics: Watch the games.
Haley Winn, 22, is part of a generation of female athletes who are elevating professional women's hockey, soccer, basketball, among others, and her brothers want everyone to remember who the real stars are.
“It's about them," Ryan Winn, 27, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "It's not about us.”
The United States and Canada will face off in an Olympic final for a seventh time since women’s hockey debuted at the 1998 Nagano Games. The rivalry between the sport’s two global powers never gets old — but this year it’s especially acute as political tensions between the two countries are on edge. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said Canada should be the 51st U.S. state.
The four Winn siblings grew up skating on their family's backyard ice rink in Rochester, New York. While the exuberant brothers all went on to play college hockey, it was already abundantly clear that their quieter, humbler sister was the true talent.
“Haley just turned out to be the absolute beast out of all of us,” Ryan Winn said.
Casey Winn, 29, said she started on the ice before she could even walk, “pushing a bucket around.”
Ryan added: “She always wanted to be the hardest worker. She always want to be competing against us, and she wants to be the best.”
After playing at Clarkson University in New York, Haley Winn was the second overall pick in last year's Professional Women’s Hockey League draft and currently plays for the Boston Fleet. Milan Cortina marks her Olympic debut, and she scored one goal and had three assists over the six games leading up to Thursday.
“She loves this game and she had a dream to play this game at the highest level for a long time,” Ryan Winn said. “It’s now our dream, getting to watch her live out her dream.”
The brothers began their outlandish shows of support during the 2024 World Championship in Utica, New York. Ryan Winn, a video producer, said they wanted to up their game for the Olympics, both in the stands and for their social media content.
“So we were like, ‘What can we do that’s next level?'” he said. ”We’re going to add an eagle head to it."
The inspiration stemmed from Team USA's goal celebration song, “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynryd. The brothers, for added effect, flap their arms as wings in the stands. Boom — another viral video.
“She laughs about it, she comments on our posts," said Ryan Winn. "She didn’t know any of the outfits that were coming, too, so she’s just as surprised as anybody else when she sees the fits.”
The Winn brothers are first to own up to the absurdity of their their bald eagle jumpsuits, but they are adamant that elite women’s hockey deserves the same respect given to the men’s game.
“If someone says they don’t like women’s sports or ‘I just want to watch the NHL and not the PWHL,’ it’s because you haven't watched enough games,” Ryan Winn said. “These are highly skilled, high-level players that have devoted their lives to this craft, who are playing explosively.”
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Associated Press reporters John Wawrow and Linda Petre in Milan contributed to this report.
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AP Winter Olympics coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
