That’s two miracles on ice on back-to-back days.
Megan Keller buried the overtime winner on Saturday for the USA women’s hockey team, and Jack Hughes sniped a shot by Canada’s Jordan Binnington to lift Team USA to another 2-1 victory.
Two games. Two rivals. Two gold medals for the United States in the 2026 Olympics in Milan, Italy.
The men’s final delivered one of the most unforgettable sequences in modern hockey history.
Tied 1–1 in overtime against Canada, the puck found Connor McDavid flying through the neutral zone. He tried to gain an angle on Hughes, but Hughes cut him off cleanly, knocking the puck loose.
With McDavid caught deep, Cale Makar pinched to keep the play alive. Hughes chipped the puck past him, leading to an odd man rush in the three-on-three configuration.
Nathan MacKinnon made one last desperate play, but Zach Werenski hustled back, swiped it away and delivered a perfect feed to Hughes alone in the slot.
One shot. Game over.
For the first time since 1980, the United States stood alone atop Olympic hockey.
And then came the part no stat sheet could measure.
As Team USA took its victory lap, they carried the late Johnny Gaudreau’s jersey. When his children joined the team for the photo, it stopped being just a hockey story. It became something bigger — a reminder that this game is family, community and legacy.
For years, Sidney Crosby’s “Golden Goal” was the only play that any American hockey player or spectator remembered in recent Olympic history.
I remember watching it as a kid, playing for the Arctic Foxes, glued to the TV for the gold medal game. Crosby was my favorite player — until that overtime winner made him public enemy No. 1 in every American rink.
I went back to practice at the Island Sports Center in Neville Island with my head down. That loss lingered.
But I’ll never forget something that was said that same week. Bob Arturo, who helped run USA Hockey programs in Western Pennsylvania before he retired, told my father: Canada owns hockey right now. Just wait. The USA is coming.
This didn’t happen overnight.
I’ll never forget all the times my coaches brought USA hockey coaches like Marianne Watkins, a coach who helps fine tune the likes of Crosby, to practices to teach us about power skating.
USA hockey is growing, as The Lemieux Center and the Armory are two newer Pittsburgh rinks, on top of the countless Pittsburgh rinks literally everywhere.
Western Pennsylvania wasn’t the only area preparing players for the next level.
According to Statista, there are 2,601 U.S. rinks, which is 600 more than there were in 2010. The more rinks, the more teams. The more players, and the more of a chance to have developed hockey players.
Recently minted gold medal winners Vincent Trocheck, and JT Miller are both Pittsburgh natives. Jake Guenztel, a Stanley Cup champion for the Penguins in 2017, is from Nebraska. Mike Sullivan, Team USA coach, led the Penguins to two cups, and his strategy that called for the USA defense to clog the middle Sunday was huge in containing Canada’s skill game.
Hellebuyck won the Hart trophy, the NHL’s most valuable player award, two seasons ago. He made 41 saves on 42 shots in Sunday’s gold medal game, including a career-defining stop on Devon Toews to save the game.
Captain Auston Matthews also won a Hart trophy and three goal-scoring titles.
Quinn Hughes, Jack’s younger brother, added a Norris trophy, which goes to the NHL’s best defenseman, two seasons ago. He’s another American gold medalist.
The USA representation might be similar in raw numbers compared to 2010, but the talent level is on a new plane, as the many awards – and now gold medals — for American winners show.
Hockey growth is evident in Sweden, Finland, Russia and the Czech Republic. It’s a growing sport everywhere. Finland took Canada to the wire in the semifinal game.
At 26, I still go to stick time. And now, when school’s out, there are 20 or 30 skaters every session.
That wasn’t always the case.
Hockey isn’t a niche sport in America anymore. It’s a priority. It’s an investment. It’s a belief.
For years, Canada owned the defining Olympic moment. Now, for the next four years, the gold medals and the standard belong to the United States.
American hockey isn’t coming anymore. It’s here.
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