The USA men’s hockey team is two wins away from winning gold in Milan, Italy, in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
A potential gold-medal match against Canada looms large, but first the US has to get past Slovakia. Slovakia, which is led by Montreal Canadien Juraj Slafkovsky, was the lone team to win a quarterfinal without needing overtime (6-2 victory over Germany).
Team USA is trying to break a 16-year medal drought and it’s been even longer since the Americans brought home gold. Let’s take a look back at some USA hockey Olympic history.
USA has won medals 11 times. USA has won the tournament twice, took home silver eight times and won bronze once.
The US is currently in its second-longest medal drought. The longest was a 22-year drought after winning gold in 1980. That drought ended with a silver medal in 2002.
It’s been 46 years since Team USA won gold at the Olympics in 1980. Yes, that would be the “Miracle on Ice” team. That year, USA stunned the four-time defending gold medalist Soviet Union, 4-3. The team went on to defeat Finland, 4-2, in the gold-medal game.
USA also won in 1960. Some consider that to be a bigger upset than knocking off the Soviets in 1980, since the US had never won gold before after finishing as the runner-up five times to that point.
1920 – Silver
1924 – Silver
1928 – Did not compete
1932 – Silver
1936 – Bronze
1940, 1944 – World War II
1948 – Ineligible for medal (dispute involving USA sending two teams from different organizations)
1952 – Silver
1956 – Silver
1960 – Gold
1964 – Fifth
1968 – Sixth
1972 – Silver
1976 – Fifth
1980 – Gold
1984 – Seventh
1988 – Seventh
1992 – Fourth
1994 – Eighth
1998 – Fifth
2002 – Silver
2006 – Eighth
2010 – Silver
2014 – Fourth
2018 – Seventh
2022 – Fifth
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