{"id":452796,"date":"2026-02-10T01:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T01:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/452796\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T01:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T01:34:15","slug":"team-usa-banking-on-bond-to-lead-the-way-to-mens-hockey-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/452796\/","title":{"rendered":"Team USA banking on bond to lead the way to men’s hockey gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN \u2014 Team USA general manager Bill Guerin added only three new players to his Olympic squad who did not compete in the NHL\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Stars\u2019 Jason Robertson and the Canadiens\u2019 Cole Caufield \u2014 and the 32 goals they each posted through 57 games \u2014 demanded consideration. Even the 21-year-old Lane Hutson of the Habs forced his way into the conversation as the third-highest producing defenseman in the NHL this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it was not enough for Guerin to see past what he and everybody else on Team USA experienced in Montreal and Boston in February 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An extraordinary bond was born inside Team USA at 4 Nations. Those who were around the United States at the precursor to Milano Cortina 2026 describe a sort of gravitational pull within the group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guerin and Team USA coach Mike Sullivan have been forthcoming about how much that team\u2019s chemistry, camaraderie and buy-in factored<\/a> into Olympic decisions. It may have even taken precedence over other determinants. That fact is not lost on the American players who touched down in Milan Sunday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think right there, I mean, that\u2019s one of the reasons I think I\u2019m going is because of that,\u201d Rangers captain J.T. Miller told The Post before he left for his first Olympic Games. \u201cThere\u2019s so many good players out there, but I think that we had such a chemistry as a team and there was a dedication to want to win the game even though we just came together a week before. We all felt that. It was real. I think that\u2019s why that team is essentially the same. We played so well in that tournament, had a lot of injuries. The last game could\u2019ve went either way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, I think we just all felt that. I can\u2019t speak on behalf of Billy or Mike, but that wasn\u2019t fake. We felt what that felt like. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a reason into why most of us are going back. It was a fun team to be around. Super high-end team. Some of the players are \u2014 the amount of Hall of Famers that are going to come out of this, right? It\u2019s pretty special just to even be associated with these guys. So I feel very lucky and fortunate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FourBrady Tkachuk #7, Matthew Tkachuk #19, Quinn Hughes #43 and Jack Hughes #86 of Team United States pose for photographs during training. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when it\u2019s that time, I\u2019m going to do what I can, but I\u2019m going to be myself. I\u2019m going to act like I am here [in New York] and be myself. I know that\u2019s probably why I got selected. So I\u2019m just going to keep doing that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The team bonded at 4 Nations over shared experiences coming through the U.S. National Team Development Program, where so many of them overlapped from class to class. No matter how many years separated them, the stories were all the exact same, just with different players.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matthew Tkachuk said his stomach hurt from laughing so much.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They collectively dedicated the tournament<\/a> to the late Johnny Gaudreau, who all of them had crossed paths with at some point in their respective hockey careers. His No. 13 jersey hung in every dressing room they moved to. Team USA even invited his father, Guy Gaudreau, to participate in practice, team photos and a team dinner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Team USA relished the villain role. The three fights in nine seconds, which kicked off the first USA-Canada game and put the 4 Nations tournament on the map, were coordinated in a group chat<\/a> that the Tkachuk brothers couldn\u2019t help but reveal in the aftermath.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"HeadHead coach Mike Sullivan, JT Miller #10 and Vincent Trocheck #16 of Team United States talk during training on day three of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Social clips showed the U.S. locker room laughing and singing Aerosmith\u2019s \u201cDream On\u201d after winning that game 3-1.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty incredible how we were able to come together and gel so quickly and almost turn into a family,\u201d Vincent Trocheck told The Post. \u201cI think it helps whenever you get into games like we did last year. A game like the one against Canada where it\u2019s so high intensity, like a true playoff Stanley Cup environment. That kind of brings everybody together even more. This is something that I feel like you go to a tournament like the Olympics, those guys end up being family for the rest of your life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

2026 WINTER OLYMPICS<\/p>\n

In such a short tournament, a preestablished sense of togetherness is invaluable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Miller put it, an environment where you can go from relentlessly chirping one another to going to war together. One where you would do anything for the guy in the locker room stall next to you, including accepting a role vastly different from the one you\u2019re used to at the NHL level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If this team can capture gold, it will be the X-factor history points to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Team USA can\u2019t avenge its second-place finish to Canada at 4 Nations, it will be considered the detriment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat chemistry was a competitive advantage for us,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cThat\u2019s how we felt being a part of it. It was pretty awesome to watch. I know that was something that was prioritized going into this experience and we\u2019re looking forward to competing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2014 Team USA general manager Bill Guerin added only three new players to his Olympic squad who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3962,5,2685,2310,4,2602,43,31286],"class_list":{"0":"post-452796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-4-nations-face-off","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-j-t-miller","11":"tag-mike-sullivan-nhl","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-olympics","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-winter-olympics-2026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116043767842991180","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}