It took 46 years, but Team USA is back on top of the hockey world. The Americans fell just short of gold twice in the interim — losing to Canada both times — but their greatest team ever assembled finally got over that red-and-white hump on Sunday.
When the United States last won a gold medal in men’s hockey, it literally took a miracle. A bunch of college kids with no NHL experience took down a Soviet Union team full of stars who may as well have been professionals. It might be the most improbable win in the history of the sport.
Make no mistake about it, this one was no miracle, although it took a few small miracles to beat Canada on Sunday. From Connor Hellebuyck’s show-stopping save on Devon Toews to Nathan MacKinnon missing a wide open net, the American squad got some fortunate bounces in the gold medal game.
That reported, reducing Hellebuyck’s out-of-body experience in goal to luck would be doing him a disservice. Besides, what championship team doesn’t get a bounce or two along the way? That’s the nature of sports, and it’s what you do with those bounces that really matters.
After 61:41 of game time, Jack Hughes capitalized on the opportunity presented by those bounces, something past American men’s teams had been unable to do.
So, this was no miracle. It was the result of a lot of hard work done by USA Hockey to close the gap with its biggest competitors on the world stage — work that started decades ago and finally paid off on Sunday.
Building a gold medal winner
After that shocking gold medal run at the Lake Placid Games in 1980, the U.S. men’s hockey team went five straight Olympics without even seeing the podium. The last of those five, 1998 in Nagano, was the first year NHL players competed. The Americans finished sixth.
Although the United States failed to win on hockey’s biggest stage, there were signs of progress deep under the surface, but it would take a while for it to manifest on the ice. In the 1990-91 season, there were 195,125 registered ice hockey players in the country, per USA Hockey. Less than a decade later, in 1997-98, that number had more than doubled to 401,218.
In 1996, during that period of explosive growth for the sport, USA Hockey formed the U.S. National Team Development Program (NTDP). The goal of the organization was to find and develop the best hockey players the country had to offer, and it’s done just that.
The wins started piling up quickly in international play, just not in the men’s game. The women won the first gold women’s ice hockey gold medal ever in 1998, and they’ve now won three gold medals after a dramatic victory of their own — also a 2-1 overtime win over Canada — in Milan. That program is a train that won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
On the men’s side, the best indicator of what could come in 2026 was Team USA’s success at the World Junior Championships. The U.S. pulled out its first gold medal at the 2004 international under-20 tournament, 27 years after the first official tournament.
Since 2004, the Americans have won the event six times. They’ve won silver or bronze a combined six times as well.
Eventually, some of those junior players became stars, and some of those stars became national heroes on Sunday. There were 17 American NTDP alumni on the Team USA roster at the 2026 Olympics.
Overtime hero Jack Hughes was in the program from 2017-19, as was the player who assisted on his golden goal, Zach Werenski (2013-14). Captain Auston Matthews (2013-15), Quinn Hughes (2015-17) and Jack Eichel (2012-14) are just a few of the other key players who were shaped by the U.S. NDTP.
Of course, not every great American player takes that route. Connor Hellebuyck isn’t a U.S. NDTP alumnus, but he seems to be doing just fine. The key is that the program has helped USA Hockey fill out its roster with legitimate star power on the international level.
Finishing the job
But as the hockey talent in the United States improved, so did the team’s performances at the Olympics. The Americans were just never quite good enough to beat out their biggest rivals in a do-or-die game.
In 2002, the Team USA put together a good showing in front of the home fans at the Salt Lake City Games. They ran undefeated through the semifinal round, even defeating Russia in the semifinal to reach the gold medal game against Canada. The Americans hung around as long as they could until the Canadians’ star power proved overwhelming in a 5-2 loss.
Eight years later, in 2010, the Americans got a renewed taste of what it was like to beat the Canadians at the Olympics. Team USA beat Canada in the preliminary round, 5-3, but couldn’t finish when it mattered most. Sidney Crosby scored his now iconic “Golden Goal” to win secure the top spot for Canada on home ice at the Vancouver Games.
In 2014, Team USA and Canada met in the Olympic semifinals. Once again, the Americans were a play late and a goal short. Carey Price blanked the United States in a 1-0 win for the Canadians.
Over the next 12 years, the United States never had the opportunity to put its best foot forward at the Olympics since NHL players did not compete. That takes us to 2026, where Team USA iced the best team in history. It wasn’t always pretty for the Americans, but they weren’t necessarily built to be pretty. This squad leaned on goaltending and defense while doing enough offensively to keep opponents at bay.
Team USA honors Johnny Gaudreau after defeating Canada to win the gold medal
Bryan DeArdo
Then came the gold medal game, another shot for the United States to prove that it belongs on level footing with Canada. Just like the rest of the tournament, it wasn’t always pretty, but Team USA got the job done with a team effort that started in the crease.
Team USA earned this win — both with its play throughout the Olympics and with the decades-long work done by USA Hockey. The United States will eventually turn its focus to maintaining its title as the best hockey team in the world, but it has four years to worry about that. For now, a celebration that has been years in the making is in order.
