“What an incredible opportunity we have in front of us.”

For the American players, United States-Canada on Sunday morning is not merely a rematch from last year’s heated 4 Nations Face-Off final. It’s a game they’ve long dreamed of playing.

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“Since you were a kid,” Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. “Since the first time you watched ‘Miracle’.”

All 25 players on this US roster have seen that movie. All of them have some memory of watching T.J. Oshie’s shootout heroics 12 years ago in Sochi. All but five have represented the United States at th World Championship. All but four were on the 4 Nations roster. All but two came up through the US National Team Development Program.

This is no group of peach-fuzz collegians trying to take down the Soviets. All of them are NHL stars — finely tuned, elite pros whose needs are quickly met and whose bank accounts are full. But this is also no thrown-together fantasy team.

They have bonded through the years over funeral tears, joyous weddings, summertime workouts, and beers, all thinking in the backs of their minds that if they kept working together, they might do something great for American hockey.

“You’re playing for your country,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “You’re playing for the guys that have come before you. You’re playing for the generation that will be coming after that. It might not be hockey players or [kids] wanting to play hockey right now, but you never know.

“We could do something hopefully special [Sunday] and there’s a new crop of athletes that want to be hockey players. That’s how it works. It’s two of probably the best teams ever, maybe, and it’s going to be one unbelievable game.”

All the players on the ice, Tkachuk added, will be “50 years old one day, not playing in the NHL [after] playing thousands of games, hopefully. And you’re going to remember start to finish a handful of games. This is probably one of them.”

Canada has been playing three of the NHL’s four leading scorers — the planet’s best player in Connor McDavid, potential MVP Nathan MacKinnon, and the prodigious Macklin Celebrini — on the same line. It might be the best team ever assembled. Even if Sidney Crosby, the all-time great and 38-year-old captain, can’t suit up because of a knee injury, the Canadians are the only team that can push back when the Americans charge forward.

“I think it’s easy for people to sit back and say, you know, this game is always going to happen,” McDavid mused. “It wasn’t always the case. Games have been so, so close. They were one shot away from being out, we were one shot away from being out. I’s so, so tight. Hockey across the globe is in such a good place with Swiss, the Slovaks, everybody. It’s been such a competitive tournament all over.”

The only way to survive has been to take it shift by shift.

That no team has won more gold medals than Canada (nine), and no team has worn silver more times than the United States (eight), is not on the Americans’ minds. They are not watching replays of the 2010 and ′02 gold medal games, in which the Canadians broke their predecessor’s hearts. Over two weeks in Italy, they have not added the weight of past shortcomings to their present.

“We’re leaning on each other and sharing this journey together,” McAvoy said after practice. “We’ll have a meal after this. I’m sure we’ll spend a ton of time tonight just getting excited. But the sentiment’s the same for everybody. We’re just absolutely thrilled for the opportunity that we’ve given ourselves.”

McAvoy spent some time reflecting on how fast the whole thing has gone. They left the heat of the playoff chase, suited up in Team USA gear, and reconnected with old friends.

“I remember that first day being like, I’m gonna be here a while, you know?” he said. “And then you start playing. Then that first three-in-four, and then, boom, the group stage is done. Quarters were done. Now the semis are done.

“It really feels like it flew by. Yeah, I can’t believe that tomorrow’s gonna be the end of it.”

Team USA coach Mike Sullivan will be coaching for Olympic gold with his son-in-law, the Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy, in the lineup.Gregory Shamus/Getty

If they can finish with gold, the Americans will be among the very few who have. Sullivan’s message was fully received.

“We tried to bring it to their attention, because I think what it does is it heightens the opportunity that we have,” he said. “It’s a privilege to be here. It’s an honor to represent your nation. I know these guys take it very seriously.”

If Team USA women’s hockey doesn’t come out with the gold at the Winter Olympics is the tournament considered a bust?

Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him on BlueSky at mattyports.bsky.social.