{"id":456244,"date":"2026-02-13T00:51:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T00:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/456244\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T00:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T00:51:20","slug":"islanders-bo-horvat-fulfills-olympic-dream-with-team-canada-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/456244\/","title":{"rendered":"Islanders’ Bo Horvat fulfills Olympic ‘dream’ with Team Canada goal"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN \u2014 This is what Bo Horvat dreamed of, what he pushed himself for, why he wanted to be here in Italy representing his country so badly.<\/p>\n

As he went through the mixed zone following Team Canada\u2019s 5-0 win over the Czechs<\/a> on Thursday, Horvat was still wrapping his head around what had happened at 17:26 of the second period, when the puck found him in alone on the rush.<\/p>\n

Horvat, facing a wall of Czech flags draped over every drapeable surface there was in the place, went to his backhand. <\/p>\n

He poked the puck in between Lukas Dostal\u2019s legs, starting the rout by turning a 2-0 lead to 3-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty special moment,\u201d he said. \u201cGreat play by [Brad Marchand] and [Brandon Hagel] to get that up. Got through the middle with some nice speed, it caught the defenseman flat-footed. Feels nice to get the win behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bo Horvat, Olympic goal scorer for Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty surreal. Feels amazing,\u201d he said, his cheek stitched up from taking a stick to the face at the end of the first period. \u201cFeels even better to get the win behind it. Just something you dream of as a little kid. To be here, to be a part of it, it\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CanadianBo Horvat scores a goal for Team Canada during its Feb. 12 win over Czechia. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Centering the fourth line, playing on the second power play unit and on the penalty kill, Horvat finished with just 9:54 of ice time. <\/p>\n

Since his rookie year in the NHL, he\u2019s played that little in a game just twice.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let that fool you into thinking he doesn\u2019t have a key role to play for Team Canada. <\/p>\n

The Canadians needed their penalty kill just once Thursday, and there weren\u2019t many defensive-zone draws where they absolutely needed a win given the game was out of hand by the second intermission.<\/p>\n

If and when those moments come, Horvat will have a huge role to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really responsible,\u201d Sidney Crosby said. \u201cHe\u2019s good on both sides of the puck. You see he gets an opening like that, he\u2019s got probably some underrated speed there. He\u2019s a guy that can create something pretty quickly offensively as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BoBo Horvat celebrates after scoring during Team Canada\u2019s win over Czechia on Feb. 12. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Forget the minutes. <\/p>\n

He was happier after this one than he usually is after playing 25 minutes and scoring in a regular-season game.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to be a part of it, I feel fortunate to be here,\u201d Horvat said. \u201cAnd to be playing and to get this opportunity. Just trying to make the most of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defenseman Josh Morrissey left the game in the second period and did not return. <\/p>\n

Jon Cooper did not have an update on his status after the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2014 This is what Bo Horvat dreamed of, what he pushed himself for, why he wanted to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[3669,5,122,3328,159,5190,5189,4,2602,43,2787,31286],"class_list":{"0":"post-456244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-bo-horvat","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-islanders","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-islanders","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkislanders","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-olympics","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-winter-olympics","19":"tag-winter-olympics-2026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116060584656568708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456244","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=456244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}