Picture this. It’s the Olympics. You’re playing against your country’s biggest rival in the gold medal game, and the game has just gone to overtime. This is the situation that, miraculously, both the men’s and women’s hockey teams for the United States found themselves in earlier this year in Milan.
U.S Women’s Team
To say that the women were completely dominant throughout the entire tournament would be an understatement. Through their four preliminary games, they finished with 20 goals for and only one goal against. This came as a result of a 5-1 win vs Czechia to start the tournament, followed by three consecutive 5-0 shutout wins against Finland, Switzerland, and eventual silver medalist Canada. The American goaltending tandem of Aerin Frankel of the PWHL’s Boston Fleet and Gwyneth Philips of the Ottawa Charge was instrumental in these wins, with Frankel posting a 0.33 goals against average and a 0.977 save percentage through the preliminary round to go along with 2 shutouts, and Philips with a 21-save shutout in her only game of the round, the 5-0 win against Switzerland.
The playoff rounds saw the team continue to dominate, as a 6-0 win in the quarterfinal round against host nation Italy (which saw Philips stop all six shots she faced for her 2nd shutout of the tournament), and a 5-0 win against Sweden in the semi finals that saw Frankel stop all 23 shots she faced for her third shutout (and the team’s fifth) of the tournament propelled the US into the gold medal game to face bitter archrival Canada once more.
In a stark contrast to their previous domination, the US actually trailed for most of the game, as Canada’s Kristin O’Neill scored 54 seconds into the 2nd period. However, team captain and the country’s all-time leading point scorer, Hillary Knight, would deflect a Laila Edwards shot past Canadian goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens to tie the game with just over three minutes to go in the 3rd. Just over four minutes into overtime, American defenseman Megan Keller would catch a stretch pass from forward Taylor Heise, make a beautiful move to slip by Canadian defenseman Claire Thompson, before firing a backhand shot on Desbien that snuck through her pads and trickled into the net, winning the United States its 3rd gold medal in Women’s hockey and first since the Pyeongchang winter Olympics in 2018. Frankel was once again instrumental in the win, stopping 30 of 31 to keep her country in the game the entire way. American defenseman Caroline Harvey won Olympic MVP, as she led the entire tournament in scoring with two goals and seven assists through her team’s seven games.
U.S. Men’s Team
The American men came into their bracket with a chip on their shoulder. Coming off their loss to Canada in the Four Nations Championship (a game that infamously saw Connor McDavid score the winning goal after being left wide open in the slot), redemption was key this time around. Like their female counterparts, the men were completely dominant in the preliminaries, defeating Latvia 5-1, Denmark 6-3, and Germany 5-1.
Toronto Maple Leafs captain and star Auston Matthews led the US in scoring through these three games, helped by a 3-point performance against Germany. The men faced Sweden in the quarterfinals, with superstar Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes firing the overtime winner past the glove of Swedish goaltender Jacob Markstrom in the 2-1 win. Markstrom stopped 38 of 40 shots he faced in the loss; his team was unable to provide much support. A fairly easy 6-2 win for the Americans against Slovakia in the semifinals would secure them a spot in a gold medal game for the first time since 2010, where they famously fell to Canada in overtime.
Facing Finland in their own semifinal, the Canadians would see themselves down 2-0 in the 2nd period, coming off of a powerplay goal by star Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen off of a perfect faceoff win by Sebastian Aho of the Carolina Hurricanes, and a shorthanded goal scored by Erik Haula of the Nashville Predators off of a Canadian defensive breakdown. However, Canada would respond in a BIG way. Late in the 2nd period, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar would wire a shot at the net, and Florida Panthers star Sam Reinhart would deflect it past Finnish goaltender Juuse Saros. Midway through the 3rd, Travis Sanheim would sling a pass over to Shea Theodore, who fired a bomb from the blue line past Saros to tie the game at two.
In the final minute of the 3rd, 2024 Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon crept towards the net from the boards and found Connor McDavid via a perfect pass, which MacKinnon hammered by Saros, giving the Canadians their first lead of the game with 35 seconds to go. They held on and sealed their meeting with the United States for gold. This game proved to be incredibly controversial amongst fans from both sides, with Finnish hockey legend Teemu Selanne saying on X: “Beating the greatest hockey country in the world and Canadian referees on the same night is impossible, I guess… absolutely embarrassing penalty 90 seconds to go in Olympic semifinal.. what a joke.”
In what was an early game for fans of the two teams back in their home countries, the gold medal game started off fast, as the tension and raw drive for both teams to win was palpable. With 14 minutes left in the first, American forward Matt Boldy chipped the puck forward, before barreling through multiple Canadian defenders, picking up his own chip pass, and slipping a backhand shot past the pad of Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington.
Despite the near constant assault of Canadian shots that would follow, US goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopped nearly every single one; however, Cale Makar walked in from the blue line and fired a shot past the Commerce Township, Michigan native, tying the game at one late in the 2nd. Hellebuyck survived a 3rd period for ages, and the game went into overtime with the teams still deadlocked at one, just like the women’s gold medal game did.
Early into the extra frame, the US team broke up a Canadian scoring opportunity and proceeded to fly down the ice, before Zach Werenski would find Jack Hughes wide open cutting to the net, and Hughes would fire a shot between Binnington’s legs and into the net, winning the United States its 3rd ever gold medal in men’s hockey and first since 1980, which also happened to happen on the 46th anniversary of their legendary “Miracle on Ice” game against the Soviet Union in 1980.
Hellebuyck stopped 41 of 42 Canadian shots in the win (including a diving stick save that produced one of the iconic images of the tournament), further cementing himself as one of the greatest goaltenders in the history of the sport. Canadian forward Connor McDavid won tournament MVP, leading in scoring with 2 goals and 11 assists. 2026 marked the first time that both the American men and women won Olympic gold in the same year, and it could prove to be the start of a new age of American dominance on ice.
