Team USA finds more miracles, makes history

By Chip Mahaney

Two golden goals. Two gold medals. Two days to end two weeks of Olympic thrills and glory for Team USA and its men’s and women’s hockey teams.

This Winter Olympics had a little bit of everything for Team USA: from a record haul of gold medals to a new generation of stars who caught our imagination and inspired viewers and fans to go for gold in their own lives. But what happened in the final weekend, with Team USA’s two hockey teams, is something truly to remember and celebrate.

It’s hard to imagine any other USA men’s Olympic hockey game topping 1980’s “Miracle on Ice,” but that “do you believe in miracles, yes!” victory against the Soviet Union was actually an Olympic semifinal, not the final. How many even remember which country the United States beat two days later to win the gold that year? For the record, it was Finland, and the final score was 4-2. But only fans of a certain age can recount where they even were that Sunday gold-medal morning, much less anything of significance about the game itself.

For pure competition itself, nothing may ever top what the American men and women did this weekend. It’s amazing the parallels between the two games, notably the same archrival opponent, the same final score and the same sudden-death, golden-goal finish. 

The American men played much of Sunday’s gold medal match on their heels against a Canada side that was far more aggressive, especially in the second and third periods. American Matt Boldy scored the game’s first goal at the 6:00 mark of the first period. But the Canadians outshot the Americans, 19-8, in the second period and came away with a tying goal.

The third period belonged to USA goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck, who stopped puck after puck (41 of 42 Canadian shots through the game) in high-pressure moments to help the Americans see the game into overtime. Hellebuyck is a Minnesota native. He plays professional hockey for the Winnipeg Jets. And while he won the NHL’s Hart and Vezina trophies in last year’s regular season for most valuable player and top goalie, respectively, he played poorly in the postseason, being subbed off the ice on multiple occasions. The favored Jets bowed out in the second round, losing in six games to the Dallas Stars. 

The knock on Hellebuyck was that he hadn’t won the big game. He answered that knock this time.

The golden goal — the gold medal winner — came less than two minutes into overtime, when 24-year-old Jack Hughes, of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, slapped a one-timer from about 10 feet past the Canadian goalie, to send Americans into a frenzy that stretched from the ice in Milano to all corners of the United States. 

But if the American men provided a spectacular final-day capstone for a record-setting 2026 Olympics, the American women may have played the more dramatic game in their 2-1 gold medal win over Canada a day earlier.

The primary difference between the two games is that the American women didn’t get the first goal in their game. They couldn’t score any goal, in fact, until late in the third period. Down 1-0 with the clock running down below 3:00, Team USA coach John Wroblewski decided to send the goalie to the bench to give the Americans another skater. 

Pulling the goalie is always a desperate move, but the Americans were desperate to tie the game. This time it paid off. Seconds later, team captain Hilary Knight scored the leveler off a deflection to send the game to overtime. That dramatic goal by Knight was her 15th in Olympic competition, spanning five Olympic tournaments, setting the record for any American player. None of those other 14 will ever approach the significance and the joy of the final one.

In overtime, Knight’s teammate Megan Keller juked past a Canadian defender and fired a shot off the goalie’s leg pad and into the net, to win the game and the gold.

For all the billions of dollars and all the years NBC invests in preparing for and promoting each Winter Olympics, they sneak up on viewers over the course of two weeks. Many Texans actively follow and participate in winter sports, especially hockey. Still, for others, the Winter Olympics present a once-in-four-year opportunity to reconnect with beautiful and thrilling sports that don’t break through the beloved din of American football and other favorite sports. 

People can be thankful that these two weeks, once again, have brought the world together in peace and given viewers moments to remember for a lifetime. 

Sidebar note: Each of the six Dallas Stars who wore national colors in these Olympics won a medal. Jake Oettinger won gold with Team USA, even if his role was as a backup to Hellebuyck. Thomas Harley was a key player in Canada’s run for silver. And the Star’s “Finntastic Four” (Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Esa Lindell and Mikko Rantanen) won bronze for Finland, each contributing to their team’s run through the tournament.

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