U.S. wins gold on anniversary of Miracle on Ice
The U.S. may want to ask Olympic organizers to change the schedule for the 2030 French Alps Olympics.
Team USA captured 2026 men’s hockey gold on Sunday, exactly 45 years after the Miracle on Ice on Feb. 22, 1980.
“Mike Eruzione and then Jack Hughes right there,” U.S. captain Auston Matthews told CBC Olympics when asked where Hughes’ OT winner against Canada ranks in American hockey history.
Eruzione scored the winner in Team USA’s massive upset of the Soviet Union at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. The 2026 gold was the country’s first Olympic men’s hockey title since then.
Unfortunately for the U.S., the 2030 Olympics are scheduled to end on Feb. 17.
Hughes’ winner came after he was on the receiving end of a high stick by Sam Bennett in the third period, resulting in a double minor. But late in the power play, Hughes got his own penalty for high-sticking.
“I can’t imagine what he was feeling in the box there at the end of the third,” Matthews told CBC Olympics. “He’s an incredible player, an incredible person.”
Like Matthews, the captain of the Maple Leafs, Hughes has Toronto ties.
He played in the Greater Toronto Hockey League to finish his minor-hockey career before joining the U.S. under-17 team.
Hughes’ father, Jim, worked in coaching and player development roles with the Maple Leafs from 2006-15.