Toronto (Canada) (AFP) – Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews is confident in the United States men’s hockey team and its chances of capturing a gold medal at next month’s Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. The 28-year-old center is among the NHL stars who return to the Olympics for the first time since Sochi in 2014 and is part of an American men’s lineup seeking the first US gold since 1980’s Lake Placid “Miracle on Ice” triumph.
“We feel like we’re up there and we should be competing for gold,” Matthews said after practice on Monday, in comments on the NHL website. “It’s obviously the first Olympics in a while since (NHL talent) have been able to play, but you want to consistently be up there and you want to be obviously the best country in the world — and this is a great opportunity for us.” USA team general manager Bill Guerin has adopted a gold-or-bust mindset since an orientation camp last summer, and the American team has the same attitude as the Olympics near.
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“It’s just about the belief and the confidence that he has in you and the group of Americans we have going,” Matthews said. “I think all of us feel the same way.” The US men won Olympic gold on home ice in 1960 and 1980 before NHL talent was allowed to compete. The US squad lost the 2002 Salt Lake City and 2010 Vancouver finals to Canada. Canada also defeated the USA in the final of last year’s Four Nations Faceoff after a round-robin meeting spiced by political issues that produced three fights in the first nine seconds.
US President Donald Trump’s comments about adding Canada as a 51st state and tariffs on Canadian goods had fans in Montreal booing the US national anthem before the matchup, and tensions haven’t settled much, with a television commercial featuring actor Jon Hamm harkening back to the mayhem from last year. Matthews, however, said the politics of the Olympic hockey tournament won’t be on his mind. “Not much, to be honest,” Matthews said. “I don’t really pay attention to that stuff much. I think you’re kind of aware of it. There’s only so much you can control…when we go to the Olympics, my focus will be on Team USA.”
Losing the Four Nations final in overtime to Canada, though, showed the Americans they can compete with anyone for global hockey supremacy. “I think it had that effect for everybody,” Matthews said. “It was like that for all the players that were able to compete and for the fans that watched. It’s just so great for the game to have that aspect of it and just bring something new for the guys that haven’t been able to compete and do kind of best-on-best formats. It’s amazing for the game that we’re able to have NHL players there representing their countries and, hopefully, that will continue to grow the game in all the positive ways it should.”
The Americans, who open Olympic play against Latvia on February 12, will have chemistry from the Four Nations, as only two players from that squad will not compete in Italy. “There’s a lot of guys that are coming back from Four Nations,” Matthews said. “It was a quick tournament, but I thought we bonded really quickly. We came together as a team very quickly. A lot of us have played with each other coming up through juniors — World Championships, World Junior, stuff like that — so it’s important to have that chemistry.”
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