Miracle in Milan: American Men Win First Gold In 46 Years To The Day With OT Win Over Canada
Do you believe in miracles (again)?
I'm going to guess we all started our Sundays the same way: by cranking up our coffee machines and parking our kiesters in front of the TV to watch Team USA take on Team Canada for Olympic gold.
The US was hunting for its first gold since the Miracle on Ice team took the top prize in 1980 — with their signature win against the Soviets coming on February 22, the same date as Sunday's gold medal game — but the big story coming in had to do with Canada's top line.
Sidney Crosby was ruled out again after missing Canada's semifinal game against Finland. While that was a huge loss, it also meant that Canada was comprised of Connor McDavid, Macklin Celebrini, and Nathan MacKinnon.
I mean, if you're going to be without one of the greatest players of all-time, you'll take that.
The teams took the ice in front of what appeared to be a pro-Canada crowd, but that may have fueled the Americans, who opened the game with an impressive opening shift that lasted over a minute and took place almost entirely in the Canadian zone.
Oddly enough, it didn't yield a shot on net, but watching it, I had my suspicion that the Olympic scorers were being stingy when it came to dishing those out.
READ: TEAM USA WOMEN’S HOCKEY TEAM TAKES GOLD WITH JAW-DROPPING OVERTIME WIN OVER CANADA
After that first shift, however, the momentum swung toward the Canadians, who outshot the Americans early in the opening frame, but Connor Hellebuyck looked sharp, snatching up some pucks that were far from easy saves.
When the Americans did finally get an official shot on goal, it was a big one.
Minnesota Wild forward Matt Boldy scored one of the most impressive goals you will ever see, with some help from Auston Matthews and Quinn Hughes, to put the Americans up by one early.
Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. That was gross.
It was a physical opening period, but the officials were letting them play. Both teams got away with what probably would've been easy penalties in any game that didn't have Olympic hardware on the line.
Canadian blueliner Shea Theodore took the first penalty late in the second when he was sent to the sin bin for hooking. The Americans generated a few shots, but nothing else.
In fact, shots were the story. The two teams finished the period 8-8, but the Americans especially passed up some opportunities to get some rubber on Canada's Jordan Binnington. It's the biggest cliché in hockey, but getting pucks on net was always going to be key in this one, especially when the Canadians have managed to keep opponents' shot totals low — limiting the amount of work Binnington had to do — all tournament long.
The Americans taking a 1-0 lead to the room after 20 minutes was huge, but there was a long way to go.
To start the second, Canadian bench boss Jon Cooper made the somewhat surprising decision to shake up his top line by moving MacKinnon.
Canada did get some solid scoring opportunities and sustained pressure in the first five minutes of the period, but the Americans weathered the storm thanks to some saves from Connor Hellebuyck.
Speaking of which, the Jets backstopper came up big on a Connor McDavid breakaway.
However, soon after, the US took not one, but two penalties to give the Canadians a minute-and-a-half 5-on-3 power play.
Miraculously, the Americans killed off the first penalty and even got the Canadians to ice the puck and nullify the final six seconds of the second penalty.
It was a massive momentum shifter for the Americans, but the second period was all Canada, outshooting the Americans 18-7.
And with under two minutes left on the clock, Cale Makar got them on the board.
The Canadians came out firing again in the third, with Hellebuyck dropping a stunning paddle save to rob Devon Toews of what was almost certainly a go-ahead goal.
Moments later, he robbed Macklin Celebrini on a breakaway, once again cementing himself as the best American player on the ice on Sunday.
With 6:34, things got interesting.
A couple of minutes after a missed too-many-men penalty on the US, Jack Hughes was high-sticked by Sam Bennett, which drew blood and earned the Canadian a 4-minute double-minor.
The US got some looks, but then Hughes took a high-sticking penalty of his own to even things up, and hand Canada a brief minute-and-eleven-second man, which Team USA killed off, and this one was off to overtime.
Was there any other way for this to go, though?
In overtime, both teams traded some chances with Jordan Binnington making a huge save to rob the Americans.
But it all came to an end thanks to Jack Hughes, who had his fingerprints all over this game.
After 46 years, the Team USA men are gold medalists once again.
Unbelievable.
I'm writing this moments after Hughes potted the game-winner, and it's going to take some time to process what just happened.
On February 22, no less.
And if it didn't already hit you in the feels, the boys brought out a jersey belonging to the late Johnny Gaudreau.
Gaudreau would've likely been on this team, and you could definitely tell his presence was in the building.
Canada played an incredible game, but they ran into a Connor Hellebuyck who played the game of his life.
This makes the 2026 Milan Olympics the most successful in USA Hockey history, with the Americans sweeping the men's and women's gold.
What an incredible Olympics.
God bless America.