MILAN — No miracle wanted. The USA is on prime of the hockey world for the primary time in almost a half-century.
Jack Hughes scored 1:41 into time beyond regulation and the U.S. defeated Canada 2-1 in the gold medal final at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Sunday, claiming the nation’s third males’s title on the Video games and its first for the reason that “Miracle on Ice” on 1980.
Not like that ragtag group of school youngsters that pulled off one of many greatest upsets in sports activities historical past 46 years in the past by knocking off the closely favored Soviet Union, the Individuals in Milan have been a machine that rode goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and a stacked roster stuffed with NHL gamers by the event unbeaten.
Hellebuyck was by far one of the best participant on the ice, stopping 41 of the 42 photographs he confronted as Canada tilted the ice towards him. He made the save of the event by getting his stick on the puck on a shot from Devon Toews within the third interval, then minutes later denied Macklin Celebrini on a breakaway — one thing he additionally did to Connor McDavid earlier.
It was solely becoming they wanted to undergo Canada, their northern neighbor that beat them on the 4 Nations Face-Off a 12 months in the past and has claimed hockey supremacy for fairly a while, successful each worldwide competitors over the previous 16 years that featured the world’s finest gamers.
Not anymore.
Profitable a fast-paced, riveting sport that was full of huge hits and loads of post-whistle altercations, the U.S. obtained a objective from Matt Boldy 6 minutes in and led till Cale Makar tied it late within the second interval. Hellebuyck and the penalty kill was an ideal 18 for 18 on the Olympics.
The U.S. lastly got here by after generations of churning out expertise from the grassroots degree like a manufacturing line. All however two of the 25 gamers on the group went by USA Hockey’s Nationwide Group Improvement Program.
That group of 23 consists of captain Auston Matthews, the highest line of Brady and Matthew Tkachuk and Jack Eichel, and the second set of brothers, Jack and Quinn Hughes. A lot of the group performed collectively both on the program, under-18s, the world junior championship or some mixture of them.
The U.S. successful silenced criticism of normal supervisor Invoice Guerin and his administration group selecting a roster stuffed with skilled veteran gamers to fill particular roles and leaving 4 of the highest 10 American goal-scorers within the NHL this season at dwelling. Some selections have been no-doubters, like coach Mike Sullivan giving the online to Hellebuyck, who was one of the best goalie within the event.
Canada, back-to-back Olympic champions in 2010 and ’14 and winners of three of the primary 5, fell brief whereas enjoying with out injured captain Sidney Crosby. The 38-year-old two-time gold medalist and three-time Stanley Cup champion left the quarterfinal sport in opposition to Czechia and sat out the semifinal sport in opposition to Finland.
McDavid, the broadly thought-about finest participant on the earth who wore the “C” in Crosby’s absence, suffered one other devastating defeat on the doorstep of a title. He and the Edmonton Oilers have misplaced to Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers within the Stanley Cup Closing every of the previous two years.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
