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\u201cSince you were a kid,\u201d Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. \u201cSince the first time you watched \u2018Miracle\u2019<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n All 25 players on this US roster have seen that movie. All of them have some memory of watching T.J. Oshie\u2019s shootout heroics<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n This is no group of peach-fuzz collegians trying to take down the Soviets. All of them are NHL stars \u2014 finely tuned, elite pros whose needs are quickly met and whose bank accounts are full. But this is also no thrown-together fantasy team.<\/p>\n They have bonded through the years over funeral tears<\/a>, 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. <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re playing for your country,\u201d forward Matthew Tkachuk said. \u201cYou\u2019re playing for the guys that have come before you. You\u2019re 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. <\/p>\n \u201cWe could do something hopefully special [Sunday] and there\u2019s a new crop of athletes that want to be hockey players. That\u2019s how it works. It\u2019s two of probably the best teams ever, maybe, and it\u2019s going to be one unbelievable game.\u201d <\/p>\n All the players on the ice, Tkachuk added, will be \u201c50 years old one day, not playing in the NHL [after] playing thousands of games, hopefully. And you\u2019re going to remember start to finish a handful of games. This is probably one of them.\u201d <\/p>\n Canada has been playing three of the NHL\u2019s four leading scorers \u2014 the planet\u2019s best player in Connor McDavid, potential MVP Nathan MacKinnon, and the prodigious Macklin Celebrini \u2014 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\u2019t suit up because of a knee injury, the Canadians are the only team that can push back when the Americans charge forward<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s easy for people to sit back and say, you know, this game is always going to happen,\u201d McDavid mused. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t 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\u2019s so, so tight. Hockey across the globe is in such a good place with Swiss, the Slovaks, everybody. It\u2019s been such a competitive tournament all over.\u201d <\/p>\n The only way to survive has been to take it shift by shift. <\/p>\n 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\u2019 minds. They are not watching replays of the 2010 and \u203202 gold medal games, in which the Canadians broke their predecessor\u2019s hearts. Over two weeks in Italy, they have not added the weight of past shortcomings to their present.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re leaning on each other and sharing this journey together,\u201d McAvoy said<\/a> after practice. \u201cWe\u2019ll have a meal after this. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll spend a ton of time tonight just getting excited. But the sentiment\u2019s the same for everybody. We\u2019re just absolutely thrilled for the opportunity that we\u2019ve given ourselves.\u201d <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n \u201cI remember that first day being like, I\u2019m gonna be here a while, you know?\u201d he said. \u201cAnd 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. <\/p>\n \u201cIt really feels like it flew by. Yeah, I can\u2019t believe that tomorrow\u2019s gonna be the end of it.\u201d <\/p>\n![\"Team](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/XFRGP43HPNDZLIV5A76RTSZWVM.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n