Nice little moment for hockey fans recently. Forty-six years after the Miracle on Ice, the US men’s hockey team beat Canada 2-1 on February 22nd to win the gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy. And it happened on the exact anniversary of that famous 1980 win. That’s interesting. Did they script that? I have to think so. It’s too perfect. I’d certainly book it like that for sure.
But to understand why this gold medal may have hit so differently for American hockey players, you have to know a bit about what came before. The US and Canada have been meeting in the Olympics since 1920. And for most of that history, Canada owned the top position just like they’ve pretty much owned hockey for generations. And even when professional NHL players started competing in the Olympics in 1998, the Canadiens still maintained their superiority. They beat the Americans in the gold medal game in 2002 in Salt Lake City, and then again in 2010 in Vancouver. And last year, Canada knocked the US out again in overtime at the 4 Nations Face-Off. The Americans kept getting close but kept falling short.
Also, for decades there has been a serious rivalry between the Americans and the Canadians in the NHL. Back when I was a kid in New York we were supposed to hate the Canadians, which was odd to me since most players at that time in the NHL were Canadian. And I loved the Montreal Canadiens. They were unreal back then. In fact, the first hockey game I went to in person was to see the Montreal Canadiens. They blew me away. Such speed. Just beautiful. But I lived on Long Island and loved the upstart Islanders, too, so over time they became my team as they went on to win 4 Stanley Cups. I hated the Rangers in NYC and the Flyers in Philadelphia, sure, absolutely. But that’s just competitive sports. I never hated the Canadian teams just because they lived in Canada. If they were playing my team, sure, spill some blood. But that’s temporary. And it’s not the same thing as blindly following some manufactured political conflict.
That’s also why I really rarely watched the Olympics aside from catching clips in the news. When I was a kid the Olympic games seemed boring. I couldn’t wait for that never-ending two weeks to end so I could watch something else on TV. Then over time I realized that the Olympics as an event was too political for me to take seriously. Also, the events within the games didn’t interest me that much as an adult. I really only follow a few sports anyway such as football, hockey, racing, and fighting. Now, I didn’t care much about Olympic athletes being patriotic to their respective countries, that’s fine. I’d probably do the same if I were in that position. So, no objections to all of that. Instead, what bothered me over the years was all the inane commentary in the media by mindless mobs decade after decade pushing one agenda or another. Relax. It’s just sports. But yet again, and right on schedule, the propagandists have tried their very best to wreck things with their constant complaining throughout the Olympics. Why we let idiocy in the commentariat ruin everything I’ll never know. I’m glad to see, though, that the U.S. hockey players basically laughed it off.
Anyway, when Jack Hughes scored at 1:41 into overtime on Sunday, the weight of all those previous American near-misses made the moment feel bigger than normal. This was not just a win. It was the win American hockey players had been waiting decades for. And they got it against the one team that mattered most to them. So, good on the Americans.
But the real story of the game was probably the goalie, Connor Hellebuyck. He stopped an insane 41 of 42 shots, including 27 right from the slot. Canada had every chance to win big, but they couldn’t get anything past Hellebuyck. Hughes put it nicely after the game by saying that Hellebuyck was the best player on the ice by far. He was right. Many times serious athletes praise others on the team because they can easily recognize excellence among their peers. It’s obvious. And they all know how hard it is to achieve those skills.
The US went a perfect 6-0 in the tournament and outscored other teams 26-9. The Americans earned every bit of of their victory. Let Canada cry till the next time and we’ll fight again then. That’s the way it is. It goes both ways. Always has.
Aside from the hockey itself, the most moving moment came after the game. The team brought Johnny Gaudreau’s kids onto the ice during the celebration and honored their friend who was killed in 2024 in a tragic and unbelievably senseless accident. Read about it. My God. The players on the American team carried his memory with them the whole tournament, and that tribute said everything about what this team meant to each other.