The Olympics are a month away — here's some stuff to get excited about

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The Winter Olympics in northern Italy officially open on Feb. 6, and competition begins on Feb. 4 — just 29 days from now. Here are a few things Canadians fans can look forward to:

Hockey: NHL stars and Canada-U.S. battles 

To be honest, the last two Winter Olympics just weren't the same without NHL players. But the world's best (minus the Russians) are back for the first time since 2014, and it'll be great to see superstars like Canada's Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon, Americans Auston Matthews and Quinn Hughes and Germany's Leon Draisaitl representing their country in the Olympics for the first time while Canadian captain Sidney Crosby goes for his third gold medal.

With Russia banned from all team events and other traditional European hockey powers like Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic not looking as strong these days, it's shaping up as another showdown between Canada and the United States for the gold. We got a taste at last year's unexpectedly electric 4 Nations Face-Off, where the cross-border rivals dropped the gloves three times in the first nine seconds of their round-robin matchup in Montreal and McDavid delivered Canada the title with his overtime goal to end a thrilling final in Boston.

It'll also be great to talk about actual hockey instead of construction and geometry. The NHL and its players have signed off on the slightly smaller ice surface at the new arena in Milan and, while the building clearly won't be finished in time for the Games, organizers promise it'll be ready enough to stage the games. We'll find out more when a test event is held this weekend.

We can also expect another fiery Canada-U.S. clash for the women's gold. The archrivals have met in six of their seven Olympic finals and 23 of 24 world-title games to date, and barring a massive upset they'll square off for the gold again in Milan. Though the Canadians are the reigning Olympic champs, the world-champion Americans are favoured to unify the titles after sweeping this year's four-game Rivalry Series by a combined score of 24-7.

Curling: Homan's shot at redemption and Jacobs' return

Canada is the world's No. 1 producer of elite curlers. And yet, it has not won an Olympic men's or women's title since 2014, when Brad Jacobs and Jennifer Jones swept the golds in Sochi. In fact, Canada has managed just one medal in the four-player events since then — a bronze by Brad Gushue in 2022.

Rachel Homan's struggles have been just as maddening. Despite being among the greatest skips of all time, she failed to reach the women's playoffs in 2018 as the reigning world champion and did not advance in mixed doubles in 2022 with John Morris, who'd won gold four years earlier with Kaitlyn Lawes.

But Homan has taken her game to another level. She went undefeated at the last two Canadian championships and has won back-to-back world titles — each time defeating Swiss skip Silvana Tirinzoni, who captured four in a row before that. Look for them to meet in the final again in Sochi.

On the men's side, Jacobs returns to the Olympics 12 years after his gold-medal victory with a new set of teammates. They include Brett Gallant, who's doing double duty in Italy. He'll also represent Canada in the mixed event with his wife, Jocelyn Peterman.

Figure skating: The Quad God and Canada's top tandems

With an unmatched array of jumps in his bag, 21-year-old American star Ilia Malinin has taken his sport by storm. Undefeated in more than two years, he's won back-to-back world titles and three straight golds at the prestigious Grand Prix Final. That includes his stunning performance at last month's Final in Japan, where the Quad God landed an unprecedented seven four-rotation jumps, including his signature quad axel, to break his own world record for the highest free-skate score. Malinin's first Olympic appearance will be must-see TV.