An unfortunate injury to Quinn Hughes knocked the reigning Norris Trophy winner out of the U.S. lineup for the 4 Nations Face-Off and opened the door for a younger defenseman to make some Olympic hockey history.

USA Hockey selected 22-year-old Jake Sanderson to replace Hughes. Sanderson joining the U.S. puts him back together with Brock Faber three years after they were teammates in the Beijing Olympic bubble after the NHL pulled out at the eleventh hour because of pandemic-related scheduling issues.

Faber, the rookie of the year runner-up last season with Minnesota, and Sanderson now have the best chances of being the only U.S. players at back-to-back Olympics in 2022 and ’26 with Milan on the horizon.

“We’re focused on this tournament, but it’s hard not to look in the future with the possibility of an opportunity like that,” Faber said Monday. “That’s definitely something we both strive to be a part of. It would be a huge honor to represent this country on the biggest stage like that.”

The U.S. would have loved to have brothers Quinn and Jack Hughes together for the 4 Nations. But the Vancouver captain, who was injured in a recent game, decided it was in his and the Canucks’ best interest to sit this one out.

Crosby good to go for Team Canada >> After missing Pittsburgh’s final two games before the NHL break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, Sidney Crosby took part in Canada’s first practice Monday and declared himself good to go.

When it comes to a rare chance to play in an international tournament with the best players in the world, it was going to take more than a banged-up arm to keep Crosby out, though the past several days included plenty of work to make sure it was safe to get on the ice.

“I’ve talked to docs here and had some good dialogue with the coaches and just seeing where I was at,” Crosby said in his first public comments since getting sandwiched between New Jersey’s Erik Haula and Luke Hughes last week and skating away favoring his left arm. “There’s been a lot of questions. A lot of, ’How are you feeling?’ the last five days, so I’m excited just to get into a routine here and get back to normal.”

College football

SJSU, Fresno State extend rivalry >> Despite their rivals’ coming split from the Mountain West conference, San Jose State will continue its longstanding football competition with Fresno State through at least 2034.

While the Bulldogs are set join the Pac-12 next fall, the so-called “Battle for the Valley” will live on in a nonconference capacity. The Spartans will host the first of six scheduled nonconference matchups on Sept. 19, 2026, with future meetings set for 2027 (at Fresno State), 2029 (at Fresno State), 2032 (at SJSU), 2033 (at Fresno State) and 2034 (at SJSU).

The Spartans and Bulldogs play at CEFCU Stadium in 2025 for one last conference clash for the Valley Trophy, which they’ve been playing for since 2013. The rivalry between the two schools goes back to 1921; they’ve met 87 times overall and in 27 of the last 29 years.

Women’s soccer

Stanford alum elevated to U.S. team >> Catarina Macario is returning to the U.S. women’s national soccer team for the first time since last June for the SheBelieves Cup.

Macario, who played for Stanford from 2017-20 and now plays for Chelsea, last suited up for the United States in a friendly against South Korea. She was named to last year’s Olympic team, but a knee injury kept her off the gold-medal winning squad in Paris.

U.S. coach Emma Hayes picked 23 players on Tuesday for the 10th annual edition of the tournament, which will include Japan, Colombia and Australia and be played in Houston, San Diego and Glendale, Arizona, from Feb. 20-26. The teams will each play three games, one game apiece in each city, with the winner determined by points.

The American roster includes 12 players from the squad that won it’s fifth Olympic gold medal in Paris. Hayes did not include Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman or Mallory Swanson, the dynamic trio nicknamed “Triple Espresso” in Paris.

Rodman is recovering from a back injury, Smith is not yet game ready and Swanson had personal commitments.

Midfielder Rose Lavelle wasn’t included because she is still recovering from offseason ankle surgery and defender Naomi Girma, recently acquired by Chelsea from the San Diego Wave for a record $1.1 million transfer fee, was not called up because of a calf injury.

Motorsports

Castroneves could make NASCAR debut >> A controversial new NASCAR rule designed for “world-class drivers” could give Helio Castroneves an automatic berth into the Daytona 500, and, should the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner use the provisional, it would make for the largest field in a decade.

It’s a complicated rule that was written into the charter agreement that 13 teams signed last September and is similar to a “promoters provisional” in that it gives NASCAR the ability to designate one driver as a guaranteed 41st entry.

Three-time Daytona 500 Denny Hamlin winner said the rule “reeks of desperation” by NASCAR, calling it nothing but a gimmick to attract big stars to stock car racing. Others wondered why the provisional went to Castroneves, who at 49 will be making his NASCAR debut, instead of seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, a two-time Daytona 500 winner.

The rule is designed for drivers who don’t currently race full time in NASCAR, so Johnson and 2017 Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. would have been eligible for consideration for the provisional.

But their teams never put in the request, which must be done 90 days before the event. Only Trackhouse Racing requested the provisional for Castroneves, who enters today’s qualifying as the only driver eligible for the 41st spot.