Milan (Italy) (AFP) – The United States won the men’s ice hockey gold at the Winter Olympics for the first time in 46 years as Jack Hughes’ overtime goal gave them a thrilling 2-1 win over Canada on Sunday. Hughes struck 1min 41sec into overtime to hand the US men their first Olympic triumph since the 1980 ‘Miracle on Ice’ win over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid. It deprived Canada of a record 10th Olympic title and its first since the 2014 Sochi Games.
With US President Donald Trump ratcheting up the tensions with his North American neighbour over the past year, the game had an added edge — and Trump was quick to congratulate the new gold medallists. “Congratulations to our great U.S.A. Ice Hockey team. THEY WON THE GOLD. WOW!” Trump posted on Truth Social, adding: “WHAT A GAME!” To hammer home the point, the White House posted a picture of an eagle pouncing on a Canada goose in response to a year-old post on X from then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in which he said: “You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game.”
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The tone for the clash that rounded off the Milan-Cortina Games 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, skilfully evading the challenge of a pair of Canadian defenders and scoring past goaltender Jordan Binnington. “I was just trying to find a way to get up the middle. Sometimes you get a good bounce and the puck follows you. It was a fortunate bounce for sure,” Boldy said.
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. Hellebuyck was the US hero, stopping a total of 41 Canadian shots. “It’s crazy, I came into this game, I won the biggest in my career and really wasn’t that nervous,” he said. “The second I woke up this morning, I felt like I was doing everything right, I was stepping in the right spot and every step I took, it felt right and it kind of translated.”
Boldy said Winnipeg Jets goaltender Hellebuyck had been the difference between two teams that were packed with talent from the National Hockey League (NHL). “Connor was our best player by a mile. If you don’t have an opinion that he is the best goalie in the world now, you’re wrong,” Boldy said.
The victorious 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
