Jack Hughes scores in overtime as US beats Canada for first Olympic gold since 1980

MILAN (AP) — The United States is on top of the hockey world for the first time in almost a half-century. No miracle wanted.

Jack Hughes scored lower than 2 minutes into overtime and the US beat Canada 2-1 in the gold medal final at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Sunday, incomes the nation’s third males’s title on the Games and its first since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980 — 46 years to the day of the upset over the mighty Soviet Union, too.

Unlike that ragtag group of school youngsters that pulled off one of many largest shockers in sports activities historical past in Lake Placid, the Americans in Milan had been a machine that rode goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and a full roster of NHL gamers by means of the event unbeaten.

Still, they had been underdogs once more in opposition to the stacked Canadians and got here out on prime — once more.

“This is all about our country right now,” mentioned Hughes, who misplaced at the least one and maybe two of his front teeth taking a excessive stick in the course of the sport. “I love the USA I love my teammates. It’s unbelievable. The USA Hockey brotherhood is so strong.”

Early in the three-on-three overtime, Zach Werenski took the puck away from Nathan MacKinnon and handed it to Hughes, who was huge open streaking to the web. Hughes fired a shot previous Jordan Binnington 1:41 in to ship gamers right into a wild celebration as the rival Canadians watched from the bench.

Asked his favourite second throughout his Olympic debut, captain Auston Matthews quipped, “I think when Jack scored. … I’ll definitely remember Jack’s goal.”

There was a observe of disappointment amid all the enjoyment as Werenski and Matthew Tkachuk carried a Johnny Gaudreau No. 13 jersey across the ice in tribute to the beloved participant who was killed alongside along with his brother in 2024.

Gaudreau’s dad and mom, Guy and Jay, his widow, Meredith, and their oldest youngsters had been in attendance. It was Johnny Jr.’s second birthday and he was brought on the ice with older sister Noa for the crew picture.

“We just wanted to show the Gaudreau family our support,” Brady Tkachuk mentioned of the participant recognized as “Johnny Hockey.” “He was so close and dear to a lot of us, and we miss him dearly. We did it for him.”

Hellebuyck was extraordinary, stopping 41 of the 42 photographs he confronted as Canada tilted the ice towards him over the ultimate two durations. He made the save of the event by getting his stick on the puck on a shot from Devon Toews in the third interval, then minutes later denied Macklin Celebrini on a breakaway — one thing he additionally did to Connor McDavid earlier.

“He was our best player by a mile,” winger Matt Boldy mentioned. “He’s an absolute stud. He wants to be in those moments. He wants to make the saves. And he did just that, so he was definitely our MVP.”

It was an excellent weekend for Team USA, with the ladies’s hockey crew additionally defeating Canada in overtime to win gold. For the lads, it was solely becoming the Americans wanted to undergo Canada, their northern neighbor that beat them on the 4 Nations Face-Off a 12 months in the past and has received each worldwide competitors over the previous 16 years that featured the world’s greatest gamers.

Not anymore.

Winning a fast-paced, riveting sport that was full of massive hits and loads of post-whistle altercations, the US bought a aim from Boldy 6 minutes in and led till Cale Makar tied it late in the second interval. Hellebuyck and the penalty kill was an ideal 17 for 17 on the Olympics.

“I can’t even believe this,” Hughes mentioned. “I mean it’s such an unbelievable game, USA-Canada. Such a good game. There’s so many great players. We’re a great team. That’s exactly how we wanted it to go. We’re underdogs to Canada, (but we) beat them. It could have gone either way.”

Hughes paid a painful worth when he took the excessive stick and wound up face down on the ice. The enamel had been out, however the celebration wasn’t far-off.

“More people are going to be looking at his medal than his teeth,” Boldy mentioned.

The US lastly got here by means of after generations of churning out expertise from the grassroots degree like a manufacturing line. All however two of the 25 gamers on the crew went by means of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.

That group of 23 contains captain Auston Matthews, the highest line of Brady and Matthew Tkachuk and Jack Eichel, and the second set of brothers, Jack and Quinn Hughes. Much of the crew performed collectively both on the program, under-18s, the world junior championship or some mixture of them.

The US successful silenced criticism of basic supervisor Bill Guerin and his administration group choosing a roster filled with skilled veteran gamers to fill particular roles and leaving 4 of the highest 10 American goal-scorers in the NHL this season at residence. The gamers they introduced bought the job achieved.

“There are whiskey drinkers and milk drinkers and we got a lot of whiskey drinkers on this team,” coach Mike Sullivan mentioned. “One of the things that Billy Guerin and I talked about from the very beginning was trying to build a team in the true sense of the word, so we looked at a deep group of American talent and these decisions were very difficult. They weren’t easy. You look at how this group is constructed, there was a thought process that we had players that could play in all situations.”

Some selections had been no-doubters, like Sullivan giving the web to Hellebuyck, who stopped 131 of the 137 photographs he confronted all through the event and was at his greatest in opposition to Canada.

“He was our backbone — today even more so than the rest of the tournament,” ahead Vincent Trocheck mentioned. “He saved our lives there a couple times in the third. He was unbelievable.”

Canada, back-to-back Olympic champions in 2010 and ’14 and winners of three of the first 5, fell brief whereas taking part in 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.

“It was a tough decision,” Crosby mentioned. “Obviously, in your head you always want to be out there and find very way possible. But not at the expense of what needs to be done. And them watching how we played today, the guys played incredible.”

McDavid, 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 in the Stanley Cup Final every of the previous two years.

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics