Join our newsletter
Get Pitt and Oakland news in your inbox every weekday.
The 1980 Olympic men’s hockey roster is one of the most idolized teams in American history.
While that American team won gold for just the second time ever at the Lake Placid games, their most memorable moment was their win over the Soviet Union during that tournament. In Lake Placid, the famous group of amateur and collegiate American athletes toppled the mighty Soviet national team en route to a gold medal.
For nearly half a century, that team, that story and the eventual film made about the win over the Soviets has stood as the pinnacle of American men’s hockey on the world stage. It inspired a generation of American hockey fans and future players and stood as arguably the greatest moment in the history of the program.
So, it’s only fitting that 46 years to the day of the Miracle on Ice, the United States defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime in Milan to win gold for the first time since those 1980 Games.
To call this win a “miracle” would undersell the performance of the Americans during this tournament, but Team USA did need several miraculous performances in the gold medal game.
Matt Boldy opened the scoring in the first period for the Americans, entering the Canadian zone on his own before flipping and batting the puck further past the blue line. He was able to split both Cale Makar and Devon Toews and walked in to slide a backhander past Jordan Binnington.
Auston Matthews, though he did not appear on the scoresheet, had a heck of a game as well. He played a complete game from end to end and bailed the Americans out with several backchecking efforts. He was just one of the several defensive heroes in this game.
The selections of J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck to the Olympic team were highly controversial at the time. The presence of Miller and Trocheck — who both play for head coach Mike Sullivan in New York — instead of top American goalscorers like Jason Robertson and Cole Caufield had general manager Bill Guerin taking some heat.
While Miller and Trocheck did not particularly stand out in this tournament, they fulfilled exactly the type of role they were brought here to play in the gold medal game. Facing a Canadian 5-on-3 for nearly two full minutes thanks to two American penalties, they helped lead an American penalty kill that successfully fended off the Canadians. Team USA had a perfect 100% penalty kill during the Olympics.
But it was during this point in the game that the momentum really started to shift. Even though the Americans were able to survive what felt like assured destruction in a game like this, it felt like Team USA had used their last gasp to kill off those penalties. From there, the game was all Canada’s.
Canada outshot the States 33-18 in the second and third periods, and their 42 total shots were the highest the Americans faced during the Olympics.
Were it not for American goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, Canada would have had this one. If you look up the definition of “dominance,” you’ll find a picture of Hellebuyck in a Team USA jersey. The usual netminder for the Winnipeg Jets stopped 41 of 42 shots and made some of the best saves you will ever see on the ice.
He stopped two breakaways, one against the greatest player in the game in Connor McDavid, and one against arguably the best young rising Canadian star in Macklin Celebrini. But he saved his best for midway in the third, where he reached back behind him and was able to get just enough of his stick on a shot by Toews to redirect it away from the net.
That was one of several heart-stopping moments for the Americans in the third period, who at this point were clinging to a tie with everything they had. A few seconds before this, Team USA got lucky by avoiding a too-many-men penalty. As the Americans were going for a change with the puck right around their own bench, the puck ping-ponged around with about eight guys having a skate on the ice.
Late in the third, Jack Hughes took a high stick to the face, costing him a few teeth and sending Canada’s Sam Bennett to the box for a double-minor high-sticking penalty. But the Americans were unable to capitalize on that golden opportunity, and Hughes would ironically take a high-sticking penalty himself to shorten the man-advantage Team USA had.
After 60 minutes, nothing was decided, forcing a clean sheet of ice and 3-on-3 overtime to determine gold. On paper, open ice favors the Canadian roster. Even if they were missing captain Sidney Crosby — scorer of the Golden Goal at the 2010 games in Vancouver — the Canadians could still toss out two of the game’s scariest speedsters in Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon.
But less than two minutes into overtime, it was Team USA’s Zach Werenski who hunted down the puck and created a 3-on-1 chance for the Americans. His pass found a trailing Hughes, who sniped it past Canada’s Jordan Binnington to win it for Team USA. A few teeth for a gold medal is a trade he’ll make every day.
As part of Team USA’s celebration, the team honored the late Johnny Gaudreau, an American NHLer who was tragically killed along with his brother Matthew after the two were struck by an SUV while they were biking in August 2024.
Team USA flew Gaudreau’s family and wife, Meredith, out to Milan for the gold medal game. After the game, the captain, Matthews, along with Matthew Tkachuk and Zach Werenski — who were both at one point teammates with Gaudreau — skated around the ice with his jersey, which was hanging in the American locker room all tournament.
During the celebration, members of the American team went into the crowd and brought Johnny and Meredith’s two small kids down for them to join in the gold medal photo, while including his jersey in the pose. It was a moment that would bring a tear to your eye, no matter which country you cheered for.
Created by our advertising software OpenX.
openx.com
To provide The Pitt News with data for advertisers and internal analytics.
google.com