Milan (Italy) (AFP) – The United States won men’s ice hockey gold at the Winter Olympics for the first time in 46 years as Jack Hughes’ overtime goal gave them a 2-1 win over Canada on Sunday. Hughes’ strike 1min 41sec into overtime handed the US men their first Olympic triumph since the 1980 ‘Miracle on Ice’ win over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid.
US President Donald Trump was quick to congratulate the gold medallists. “Congratulations to our great U.S.A. Ice Hockey team. THEY WON THE GOLD. WOW!” he said on Truth Social, adding: “WHAT A GAME!”
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The tone for the high-stakes clash was set early on when the Americans were booed when they came out for the warm-up at the Santagiulia Arena by a crowd that appeared to be two-thirds Canadian. But chants of “USA, USA” soon rang out and they got louder when Matt Boldy gave the Americans a 1-0 lead in the first period. Boldy skilfully evaded the challenge of a pair of Canadian defenders and scored past goaltender Jordan Binnington.
Having stopped the first 24 shots he faced, USA goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was finally beaten in the second period by Cale Makar’s wrist shot that squeezed over his pad and into the back of the net. The Americans came close to re-taking the lead at the end of the second period when Brock Faber’s slap shot deflected off both posts but somehow didn’t go in.
Once the game went into the three-on-three overtime, Hughes applied the golden touch to send his teammates and the US supporters into raptures. After they won, the American players skated around the rink holding up a jersey with the name Gaudreau and the number 13 on the back in memory of former NHL player Johnny Gaudreau, who was killed in August 2024 along with his brother Matthew by a drunk driver while cycling in New Jersey.
Finland, the champions in Beijing four years ago, won the bronze medal on Saturday by thrashing Slovakia 6-1.
© 2024 AFP
