USA Defeats Canada in Overtime, Wins Olympic Gold On 46th Anniversary of ‘Miracle on Ice’

On the 46th anniversary of the greatest moment in U.S. Olympic history and the most shocking upset in the history of sports, Team USA defeated archrival Canada for Olympic gold in overtime, 2-1.

Canada had served as the stumbling block to the Americans in 2002, 2010, and last year in the 4 Nations tournament. This year, however, the Americans survived until overtime on the strength of arguably the greatest goalie performance in the history of hockey, as Team USA’s Connor Hellebuyck stopped shot after shot and got the Americans to overtime.

Team USA is atop the hockey world, taking its third ever gold medal in men’s hockey just days after doing so on the women’s side. It took a gut-wrenching, heart-pounding and forever-memorable final on Sunday that ended 2-1 in overtime over the mighty Canadians, and tears hit the floor the second the goal-horn sounded.”

At 1:41 of overtime, Zach Werenski fed Jack Hughes on the break and wrote a moment that will live on in American sports lore forever.

Team USA poured onto the ice in hugs and tears. Matthew Tkachuk and Charlie McAvoy dove into each other’s arms, then Matthew went and found his brother. Brock Nelson, whose great-uncle and grandfather won gold in 1980 and 1960, became the third gold-medal winner in three generations of his family.

Canada sat on its bench, stoic.

Canada had dominated the run of play until its decisive moments began to play out with 6 ½ minutes left in regulation.

Sam Bennett caught Jack Hughes with a high stick and drew blood, handing the United States a four-minute power play when it desperately needed some kind of offensive momentum.

Instead of getting any, the U.S. did little at five-on-four, then negated the last minute-and-change of the power play when Hughes was called for a high stick on Bo Horvat.

The US dutifully killed off the penalty, missed opportunity in hand, and trudged onto overtime, the first overtime in a gold-medal game since Crosby in 2010. This time, the Americans got their own forever highlight.

With the score tied at one and Canada having dominated the second period, Mike Sullivan went to the line blender for the first time all tournament entering the third. The Tkachuks were split up, with Brady staying on a line with Jack Eichel and Dylan Larkin on his opposite wing while Matthew played with Brock Nelson and Jack Hughes.

It barely affected Canada’s domination, but crucially got Larkin and Hughes — whose line with Tage Thompson had gotten limited time all game — on the ice more.

Twice in the first 10 minutes of the third, Canada had an open net from Connor Hellebuyck’s left post. The first time, Devon Toews’ shot went through the crease; the second time, Nathan MacKinnon hit the post.

Those were the moments that will play out in Canadian nightmares.

Team USA leaned heavily on Auston Matthews’ line to match with Canada’s overpowered Mach3 trio of Connor McDavid, Macklin Celebrini and Nathan MacKinnon. That decision paid off early for coach Mike Sullivan, as a Matthews backcheck broke up a prime Celebrini scoring chance off the rush, and as Matt Boldy stamped himself onto highlight reels by skating through Devon Toews for a backhand finish that put the Americans into a 1-0 lead 6:00 into the game.

The pace here was utterly frenetic, perhaps even more so than the pair of matches at 4 Nations last year between these countries. The physicality was bruising, right from Tom Wilson attempting to take off the head of Dylan Larkin early in the match.

For those who watched a year ago, the tone of the game felt similar but exaggerated. Team USA leaned heavily on its defensive structure and ceded the majority of possession, opting instead to try and lean on its structure.

Though Connor Hellebuyck had a terrific game in goal, that was about the only part of the plan that worked. The U.S. never generated a forecheck and from the second period on, the Americans looked like they were hanging on by a thread, even as their goaltender put in a superhuman performance, stopping breakaways from Connor McDavid in the second and Macklin Celebrini in the third.

The U.S. miraculously killed off a 93-second five-on-three in the second, using a two-forward, one-defense configuration to remain perfect on the penalty kill in the Olympics. J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck, two controversial additions to the team, both played huge roles in making that happen.

Canada, though, kept on coming throughout the second period, and something had to give.

Finally it did when Cale Makar wired one in from the right circle at the 18:36 mark, tying the game at one.

Just like 1980, the U.S. needed some magic.

It came tinted with gold.