U.S. Men’s Hockey Beats Canada, Wins 1st Olympic Gold in 46 Years

Jack Hughes scored at 1:41 of overtime and goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped 41 of 42 shots as the U.S. men’s hockey team beat Canada 2-1 to win Team USA’s first Olympic gold medal since the Miracle on Ice team in 1980. It’s the third gold medal all time for men’s hockey; the first was in 1960.

The U.S. scored at 6:00 of the first period on Matt Boldy’s second goal of the Olympics. Canada’s Cale Makar evened the score at 1-1 at 18:16 of the second period. A scoreless third period sent the game into overtime. At 1:41 of overtime Hughes fired a shot past goalie Jordan Binnington and Team USA went into celebration mode. The 2-1 victory over Canada in overtime matched what the U.S. women’s team did against Canada in that gold medal game.

Hughes, who plays for the New Jersey Devils, had taken a high stick to the face from Sam Bennett earlier in the game, loosing a tooth. Bennett received a double minor penalty. Hellebucyk, a member of the Winnipeg Jets, was the NHL MVP and winner of the Vezina Trophy as the top goaltender in the league for the 2024-25 season. He was incredible in the net, as the relentless Canadians poured in 33 shots in the final two periods alone (the U.S. had just 28 shots in the entire game).

The win avenged championship game losses to Canada in both 2002 and 2010. Canada still leads in both gold medals and total medals in the Olympics, with 9 gold, 5 silver, and 3 bronze, for a total of 17, while the U.S. is third with 3, 8, and 1, 12 total. The former Soviet Union is second with 9 total medals—7 gold, and 1 each of silver and bronze (if you combine Russia with the Soviet Union, it’s 9 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze). Finland won the bronze this year, beating Slovakia.

Both Canada’s  and Team USA’s rosters consisted entirely NHL players, who will now go back to being teammates or rivals in that league later this week. That differs from the U.S. 1980 team, made up of college players who beat the Soviets in the midst of the Cold War. It was a different world.

Championship Game Highlights link

All in all, it was a very good Olympics for the United States Olympic team, with 12 gold, 12 silver, and 9 bronze medals; the 12 gold is a record for the U.S. Team USA was second in total medals with 33 while Norway was the top winner with 18 gold, 12 silver, and 11 bronze (41 total).