US men’s hockey had not won Olympic gold since 1980. Then Jack Hughes changed everything.
MILAN — Forty-six years to the day the U.S. men’s hockey team miraculously paved its way to Olympic gold, and won gold again, this time in sudden death.
Jack Hughes quickly made US Winter Olympic history when he received a pass from Zach Werenski 1:41 into overtime and fired the ball between the legs of Canadian goalkeeper Jordan Binnington to beat Canada 2-1 and send Santagiulia Arena into wild celebration.
“This is about our country right now, I love the USA,” Hughes told NBC after the game. “I love my players.”
It marked only the third time the US has won gold, following a victory in 1960 and the “Miracle On Ice” team that shocked the Soviet Union on Feb. 22, 1980, later defeating Finland in the gold medal game.
The US was denied gold medals in 2002 and 2010 by Canada. Keith Tkachuck, the father of US brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuck, had played in that loss to Canada in 2002, and Brady said that while he hadn’t heard much about the game, “basically what I’ve heard is that there’s a lot of regret when you don’t win.”
There were no US regrets on Sunday, just the roar of the crowd inside a sold-out stadium overflowing with Canadian fans as the points tallied and the US secured the gold medal that many generations have failed to achieve.
Hughes called the win, played on the final day of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics — the first with NHL players since 2014 — “a ballsy win. That’s American hockey right there.”
The win earned the US hockey gold at the Winter Games, coming three days after the US women also beat Canada in overtime.
In that overtime, as the teams were reduced from five-on-five to three-on-three, the US opened with Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes and Matt Boldy and quickly created a shot for Hughes, who hit the puck straight into the net – right into Binnington’s left glove.
But the US kept up the pressure on Canada, which was more of a possession when it was even strength at 5-on-5 but couldn’t go into overtime with the ice wide open.
Moments later, Hughes rose to Werenski’s point, firing just before Canada’s Connor McDavid could get in front for a block. One year earlier, McDavid had scored Canada’s game-winning goal against the US in a tense “Four Nations” tournament that set the stage for Sunday’s gold medal match.
After the American players held Hughes near the boards following his goal, his teammates including Brady Tkachuck took a rope from the rink holding up the jersey of Johnny Gaudreau, the American star who was killed along with his brother, Matthew, in August 2024, when they were hit by a driver while riding bicycles near their hometown in New Jersey.
Hughes named US goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck his best performance of the afternoon, after he survived numerous Canadian chances to record 41 saves, while giving up one goal to Cale Makar in the second half.
Boldy gave the US a 1-0 lead six minutes into the first period.
Canada outscored the US 19-8 in the second half, but could only produce a goal by Makar to tie the score.
Canada then opened the third period as the aggressor again, taking eight of nine shots in the period and nearly doubling America’s efforts in the game, 36-17.
Under that relentless pressure, Hellebuyck stretched, jumped and twisted to deny Canada’s repeated runs, at one point using his stick to push the puck, mere inches before it crossed the goal line. Canada nearly took a 2-1 lead and when the puck went over Hellebuyck’s pads, it went into the net, as American Charlie McAvoy swung it in with his glove.
With 11 minutes left to play in the final period, Canada had an open chance when Hellebuyck’s attention drew him to the left side of the goal, only for the puck to find Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon on the right. But he didn’t fire.
The US will soon have its own opportunity.
With 6:34 left to play in overtime, Canada’s Sam Bennett earned a four-minute penalty for a high stick when Hughes was hit in the face so hard he lost several teeth, his mouth still bleeding even after overtime. Not only did Canada kill that four-minute penalty, they quickly had their advantage five-on-nine when Hughes – the player who had drawn the four-minute penalty – was called for his high-sticking with less than two minutes to play in regulation.
The US came off that power play unscathed with 80 seconds to play, and survived into overtime.
It set up Hughes’ overtime heroics. As Mike Eruzione, who scored the game-winning goal against the Soviet Union in 1980, watched from the sidelines, Hughes broke a nearly century-long wait to return to the top of the Olympic medal stand.
“That’s exactly how we wanted it to happen,” Hughes said. “We wanted to go through Canada and beat them.”
