{"id":453523,"date":"2026-02-10T18:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T18:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/453523\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T18:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T18:48:25","slug":"the-honor-of-a-lifetime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/453523\/","title":{"rendered":"The Honor Of A Lifetime"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN \u2013 Mike Sullivan\u2019s<\/a> eyes slightly started to tear up during the 2025 USA Hockey Long Drink Level 5 Coaches Symposium as he reflected upon the upcoming 2026 Olympic Winter Games.<\/p>\n

To say Sullivan is grateful to be the head coach of the U.S. Olympic Men\u2019s Ice Hockey Team in Milan, Italy, is an understatement.<\/p>\n

Sullivan\u2019s path to becoming a hockey player\u2014and now a two-time Stanley Cup winning head coach in the NHL\u2014is tied to the Olympics. The Marshfield, Massachusetts, native remembers being a 12-year-old kid when the U.S. Olympic Men\u2019s Ice Hockey Team won the gold medal at the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kid, the 1980 experience, that inspired my generation,\u201d Sullivan said.<\/p>\n

The current head coach of the New York Rangers knows how important, and impactful, the Olympics are, and he is not taking for granted the opportunity to lead the red, white and blue this February. The 56-year-old was named head coach of the 2022 Olympic squad but ultimately the NHL did not participate in the Games due to COVID.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get emotional thinking about it,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cIt\u2019s the honor of a lifetime. I\u2019ve thought about it a lot. What an incredible honor to coach the United States in these international events, whether it be the 4 Nations or the Olympics. It\u2019s essentially the pinnacle of our game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our best American-born players of this generation. And I have the opportunity to coach them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sullivan and the U.S. Olympic Men\u2019s Ice Hockey Team arrived in Milan on Sunday before practicing later in the evening at Milano Santagiulia Arena. The team gathered on the ice again Monday before taking off from on-ice activities on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is inspiring to watch these guys,\u201d Sullivan said after practice. \u201cTheir ability to play at such a high space and some of the things they do with the puck at such a high tempo. A lot of times we are in awe of some of the things they are doing. It\u2019s easy to watch them and you feel like we have the best seat in the house.<\/p>\n

“We have an idea of what we want to start with and that will start to unfold here over the next couple of days. One of the things we love about our roster is the versatility. We have a lot of center ice men that can play the wing.\u00a0 We can move guys around the lineup depending on how we think lines are performing or players are performing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. begins preliminary play Thursday against Latvia at 3:10 p.m. ET (USA Network | Peacock).<\/p>\n

There is a responsibility that comes with playing for the United States. It is something that Sullivan, who has been involved with USA Hockey as a player and coach for five decades, spoke with his players about during last year\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off and during the Men\u2019s Olympic Orientation Camp this August in Plymouth, Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 4 Nations has already started to inspire the next generation,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cThe Olympics is the next step. I without a doubt have thought about that a lot. I know our players have also because I\u2019ve talked to them about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a responsibility that we have, but it\u2019s an unbelievable privilege all at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, there are golden expectations for the team, especially with NHL players participating in their first Olympics since 2014, but there is something else that Sullivan expects from his players.<\/p>\n

It is something he hopes youth players and coaches can also embody in their own organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to see some great hockey because these guys can play, but, for me, it\u2019s more than that. And it is for the players too,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to represent the American way. What it means to be American\u2014work ethic, commitment, care for your teammates. What do we value as Americans? We want to be emblematic of that as a team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to win with humility and be fierce competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0A version of this story originally appeared in the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games USA Hockey Magazine preview issue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2013 Mike Sullivan\u2019s eyes slightly started to tear up during the 2025 USA Hockey Long Drink Level…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5111],"tags":[5,3328,35,5190,5193,4,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-453523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-rangers","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-rangers","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkrangers","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-rangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116047833143073854","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453523","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=453523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}