Exactly 46 years after the "Miracle on Ice" Lake Placid Games, the U.S. men's hockey team brought home another Olympic gold medal.
Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime on Sunday to secure the third gold medal in American history at the Olympics.
“I hope this will inspire kids to put this jersey on someday, as it’s the best feeling in the world," Dylan Larkin said after the win. "What we just did, nothing will ever match this.”
Matt Boldy got on the board for Team USA just six minutes into the game to give the United States an early lead.
Canadian defenseman Cale Makar scored the equalizer with 1:44 left in second period to tie the game at one apiece going into the second intermission.
But it was Connor Hellebuyck, who played out of his mind the entire game, who would prove to the deciding factor in the final. The Winnipeg Jets goalie put on a highlight-reel performance that will go down in hockey history.
"It was an all-time performance from a superstar at his position," Matthew Tkachuk said. "It's going to go down as one of the best performances of all time. It has to. All the great United States goaltending performances you want to talk about, that's right up there. If we don't have him, we don't win.”
Hellebuyck saved 41 shots in the game and made it virtually impossible for Canada to break through to the back of the net.
"It's a dream come true," Hellebuyck said after the game. "I love this group, we've had so much fun over here, we've grinded, we've battled, this is some of the best and most fun hockey I've ever played."
The U.S. and Canada battled all the way to overtime, where it was Jack Hughes who became the ultimate hero.
"No one loves the game more than him," Jack's brother Quinn Hughes said. "He's got so much passion. He's a gamer. He made it happen."
Jack Hughes scored the golden goal with 1 minute and 41 seconds to go in overtime, to win the 2026 Olympic gold medal in men's hockey for the United States.
"Unbelievable game, unreal game by our team," Jack Hughes said after the game "Ballsy, gutsy win. That's American Hockey right there. That's a great Canadian team, but we're USA. We're so proud to be Americans."
Through a bloodied mouth and missing teeth, after taking a hit late in the game, the game-winning golden boy praised his teammates.
"USA Hockey brotherhood means so much," Jack Hughes said. "Look at these guys. We're such a team."
The brotherhood was on full display after the historic win, as Team USA celebrated with their late teammate Johnny Gaudreau's jersey on the ice, with his family looking on from the crowd in Milan.
“It's just what he means to our whole entire team, what he means to USA Hockey," Brady Tkachuk said after the game. "We miss him and Matty (Matthew Gaudreau) so dearly. He would have been in this team. He's touched everybody on that ice. We just wanted to show the Gaudreau family our support. He was so near and dear to a lot of us. We miss him greatly, and we did it for him.”
The U.S. team honored Gaudreau, who was killed, along with his brother, Matthew, by an alleged drunk driver on Aug. 29, 2024, by hanging his jersey in the locker room throughout the Olympic tournament.
The Milan Cortina Games is the first time that the U.S. has won gold in men's hockey at an Olympics where NHL players were competing. The Stars and Stripes finished with a perfect 6-0 record in the tournament and outscored their opponents 26-9.
"USA, Canada. That's such a good game," Hughes said. "They have so many great players. We're a great team. That's exactly how we wanted to go. We wanted to go through Canada and beat them. It couldn't win either way tonight, but that's number one for the Americans."
Canada went undefeated until the gold medal game and were forced to play without their captain and two-time gold medalist Sidney Crosby due to injury.
"In your head you always want to be out there, and you want to find every way possible, but not at the expense of what needs to be done," Crosby said. "Watching the way we played today, the guys played incredible."
Connor McDavid stepped up in a huge way throughout the tournament to fill the captain's shoes and tallied an Olympic record, 13 points. Young superstar Macklin Celebrini led all scorers with five goals in his first Olympics.
"We had lots of chances, I had lots of chances, I missed," Celebrini said. "You get put in those situations, you have to capitalize on your opportunities, and I didn't. We're all going to remember this time, but unfortunately, it's going to be more motivational than celebration."
In addition to their gold medal hardware, Quinn Hughes, who led the U.S. in points (8) was named the tournament's Best Defender and Hellebuyck was named the tournament's Best Goaltender.
“This game, in a lot of ways, was an inspiration to our country,” said U.S. head coach Mike Sullivan. “These are all terrific players, and a team in the true sense of the word. We were loaded with personality up and down the lineup.”