Two overtime winners. Two gold medals. In Milan, the United States men’s and women’s hockey teams did something no American teams had ever done before. On the world’s biggest stage for international competition, both teams found themselves competing for a common goal against a common opponent. Though the games were played in Italy, it was once again a North American showdown. In both men’s and women’s hockey, the United States and Canada found themselves facing off in the gold medal games.
The first of these games was the women’s, which took place on Feb. 19. Entering the game, Canada was seeking their sixth Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey. It would give them back-to-back gold medals after they had defeated the United States in the finals of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games. The Americans, on the other hand, were looking to win their third gold medal in women’s hockey and were hungry to avenge their 2022 loss. Oddsmakers like DraftKings and FanDuel leaned heavily in favor of the Americans before puck drop, especially after they defeated the Canadians 5-0 in the preliminary rounds on Feb. 10, just nine days prior. But the match was anything but easy.
The game opened up slowly, with neither team scoring in the first period. At the start of the second period, the United States was on a power play, as a Canadian player received a two-minute penalty in the waning moments of the first period. Despite this, Canada’s Kristin O’Neill netted a short-handed goal in the opening minute of the second period. It was just the second goal that the American team had allowed all tournament.
The game remained a defensive grind, as the second period ended with the scoreboard reading Canada, 1, United States, 0. It took until the final 2:04 of regulation for the United States to get on the board. With the goalie pulled, captain Hilary Knight deflected a shot past the Canadian goaltender to tie the game. The goal not only forced overtime, but also cemented Knight’s place in history as she became the United States’ all-time leading scorer in Olympic competition.
From there, the game moved into a three-on-three overtime, with more space on the ice and heightened drama. Just over four minutes into that extra period, Megan Keller of the United States got free and pushed a backhand shot past the Canadian goaltender to win the gold medal for the Americans. The United States claimed its third gold medal in women’s hockey and turned to watch the men’s team, seeing if this would be the first time in history that the U.S. men’s and women’s hockey teams took home gold in the same year.
The following night, on Feb. 20, the United States and Canada defeated Slovakia and Finland, respectively, to set up another North American matchup in the men’s gold medal game. The stage was set, with the Canadians seeking their 10th gold in men’s hockey and their first since 2014, while the Americans were seeking their third gold and their first since 1980. The two men’s teams would deliver a classic of their own.
That game started quicker than the women’s game, as American Matt Boldy scored six minutes into the first period, giving the United States early momentum. Canada’s Cale Makar scored the equalizer in the dying moments of the second period. Nobody scored in the third period, thanks in big part to a monstrous performance from American goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who made several key saves. This sent the game to overtime with the teams knotted at one, just as they were in the women’s game.
The overtime hero of this game would be decided in about half the time as the women’s game. Less than two minutes into the extra period, American forward Jack Hughes put the puck into the back of the net to clinch gold.
It marked the first time the United States had won a gold medal in men’s hockey since the 1980 Winter Olympics, known as the famous “Miracle on Ice,” where the United States defeated the Soviet Union in what was supposed to be a lopsided semi-final matchup in a home arena in Lake Placid, N.Y. When asked about the game, Hughes credited Hellebuyck for keeping the team alive and spoke about the “USA hockey brotherhood,” calling the win over Canada “gutsy.” He was certainly right about that — the Americans claimed a 2-1 victory despite the Canadians firing off 50 percent more shots on goal than the Americans (they outshot the United States 42 to 28). Hughes’ interview has made several headlines and circulated on social media as a symbol of immense American pride surrounding the victory. One writer for the Wall Street Journal even called for Hughes to run for president in his article “Jack Hughes for President,” which was published the afternoon after the game. For a sport that has never been truly “American,” sweeping the gold medal games in overtime elevates the achievement beyond winning alone. This proved to be not just a championship weekend, but one of, if not the most defining, weekends in the history of American hockey.
