Team USA men’s hockey team won its first gold medal in 46 years on Sunday. They clashed against Canada in the final game of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games tournament after dominating Slovakia in the semifinals (6-2).
Canada presented a much harder challenge. Team USA needed overtime to beat their neighbors, as the Canadians suffocated the defense for most of the third quarter. Matt Boldy gave the U.S. the lead at 6:00 in the first period.
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Cale Makar tied the game for Canada at 38:16 in the second period. Jack Hughes ultimately gave his team the win and the gold medal to make history. After the game ended, his brother Quinn revealed a conversation with Jack, where he told him what would happen hours later.
“At 12:30 (am) I went over to him (Jack Hughes) and said, ‘You up?’ And he said, ‘Yeah… Dreaming about scoring the game-winner.’”
Jack Hughes did exactly that, emulating what Megan Keller did for the women’s hockey team on Thursday. She also scored in overtime to give Team USA a 2-1 win against Canada
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Jack Hughes expressed his love for the United States after scoring game-winning goal
A couple of minutes after his game-winning goal, Jack Hughes showed his love for his country while explaining the feeling of securing the team’s first gold medal on the men’s side in 46 years.
“This is all about our country. I love the USA. I love my teammates…I’m so proud to be an American today,” Hughes said.
“That’s a great Canadian team, but we’re USA, we’re so proud to be Americans, tonight was all for the country,” he continued. “It’s everything, the USA hockey brotherhood means so much, we’re such a team, we’ve been together for two weeks, but we’re such a team. The USA hockey brotherhood is so strong, and we’re so proud to win for our country.”
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Hughes will return to the New Jersey Devils now with recharged energies. He should be ready to help the team compete for the remainder of the season.
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