Time has a way of becoming elastic at an Olympic hockey tournament.
The anticipation and lead-up to the tournament carries on for months. In the case of the just-completed Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, well, the wait for fans of the National Hockey League to say nothing of the almost 150 NHL players who took part in the epic competition, that anticipation lasted 12 years dating back to Sochi in 2014.
When the group play starts there is excitement, but also the knowledge that the true drama is still very much in the future. It is the setting of the table, if you will.
Once elimination play begins, well, the tension in the rink is palpable. You see it on the faces of the players and the coaches. It’s one of heightened anticipation. Have one bad day, face one hot goalie and you’re packing your sticks and heading home no matter how lofty your Olympic goals might have been.
Elimination play, quarterfinals, semifinals become a blur and then all of a sudden it’s gold medal day and there is nothing quite like walking into the arena for the afternoon match that is always the great centrepiece and last event of the Olympic Games.
Milan brought no small measure of drama and feel-good moments throughout.
Here are five of our favorite moments.
JOHNNY AND MATTHEW GAUDREAU REMEMBERED IN GOLD MEDAL MANNER
If you go back to last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off and then after that the 2025 world championships, won by Team USA, you didn’t have to look hard for reminders of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, hockey-playing brothers who were killed in a car accident in late August of 2024.
Johnny Gaudreau’s jersey and other memorabilia hung in the Team USA locker room at both those events and team officials and players made sure Gaudreau’s jersey made the trip to Milan. The boys’ parents, Guy and Jane, were on hand late in the Olympic tournament. So, it wasn’t surprising but was nonetheless an emotional sight to see various U.S. players, including close friends Zach Werenski and Matthew Tkachuk, along with team captain Auston Matthews carrying a Gaudreau No. 13 jersey around the ice after Jack Hughes’ overtime winner in the gold medal game Sunday versus Canada. Then, for the team photo after the gold medals had been distributed, Gaudreau’s children were on the ice and in the photos, Dylan Larkin holding Gaudreau’s son, Johnny Jr., and Werenski holding daughter, Noa, a poignant reminder that the boys may be gone but they will never be forgotten.
JACK HUGHES AND THE GOLDEN GOAL
Where else would we start but at the most dramatic moment of this Olympic men’s hockey tournament? A moment that brought to a sudden end one of the greatest hockey games ever played and may have altered the course of history for hockey in the United States.
After being outplayed by Team Canada for most of the last two periods, Team USA was relying on the brilliance of netminder Connor Hellebuyck to keep the game close. With the score knotted 1-1 and headed to overtime, it was Jack Hughes, who earlier on lost several teeth after being clipped by a high stick from Sam Bennett, corralled a loose puck in the Canadian zone and whipped home the golden goal that gave Team USA its first gold medal since 1980.
Hughes was a fitting hero after seeing his importance to Team USA grow throughout the tournament. The fact he roomed with his brother Quinn, and that his mother, Ellen Weinberg-Hughes, helped the U.S. women’s team win a gold medal as a consultant made this a fortnight to remember for the entire Hughes family.
CONNOR HELLEBUYCK AND THE GOLDEN SAVE
It’s quite likely Jack Hughes doesn’t get to play the hero were it not for Hellebuyck who stopped 41 of 42 shots for Team USA. But no stop was more dramatic than his lunging stick save on a Devon Toews’ attempt from the edge of the U.S. crease in the third period with the game tied 1-1.
Hellebuyck downplayed the brilliance of the save but given how close Toews was to scoring and the critical juncture of the game and well, this was the gold medal game, it’s hard to downplay just how significant that moment was in a game that was played on the edge from beginning to end.
As Team USA forward Dylan Larkin put it, he was going to be happy watching Hughes’ golden goal over and over but it might take him some time to get around to watching some of the saves Hellebuyck made and some of the misses Canada had that might have changed the course of hockey history.
SIDNEY CROSBY, A CAPTAIN FOR THE AGES
The sure-fire first ballot Hockey Hall of Fame inductee didn’t play in the last two games after taking several hard hits during Canada’s overtime win in the quarterfinals. Yet, he was around the team constantly in spite of the injury, offering advice and observations during the last two games.
Then, in spite of his lower body injury, Crosby geared up and joined his teammates on the ice as the medals were presented and Canada received the silver medal, making it three Olympic medals for Crosby in his illustrious career, the other two being gold, of course, thanks to Canada’s Olympic wins in 2010 in Vancouver and 2014 in Sochi.
Later, even though Connor McDavid had worn the ‘C’ on his jersey in Crosby’s absence, Crosby agreed to take questions at the media table as part of the post-gold medal game media format along with head coach Jon Cooper. In a career marked by stand-up moments, Crosby putting aside the disappointment of not being to play and the disappointment at Canada’s narrow loss in the gold medal game, to fulfill his role as team leader stands out as praiseworthy.
SLOVAKIA DEFEATS FINLAND 4-1 TO OPEN GROUP PLAY
The beauty of an Olympic hockey tournament is that you may think you know how things will turn out, but the games are always played on the ice and that’s what happened when the youthful Slovaks took it to a deep, NHL-laden Team Finland in the opening game in group play, winning 4-1. The win changed the course of Group B and maybe the outcome of the tournament as the Slovaks went on to win the group, pushing Team Sweden to the seventh spot in the qualification pool.
In fact, one of the secondary memorable moments for Slovakia was scoring a late goal against Sweden to earn the top spot in the pool via goal differential. setting off wild celebrations from Team Slovakia even though they lost the game. Winning the group gave the team a bye to the quarterfinal where they dispatched Leon Draisaitl and Team Germany before losing to Team USA in the semifinals.
The emergence of young Slovakian standouts like Juraj Slafkovsky and Dalibor Dvorsky suggest that Team Slovakia may be a force on the international stage sooner than observers had imagined.
“Hockey is the number one sport in Slovakia, so everyone is with us,” said Washington Capitals defenceman Martin Fehervary. “I got thousands of messages every day about how proud they are. I’m really disappointed we couldn’t do more and win a medal. I was looking forward to feeling it on my skin as well. But I didn’t.”
HONOURABLE MENTION MOMENTS
- Team Canada, led by Crosby, taking the Milan Metro to watch fellow Canadians compete in speed skating.
- The gifts left for some members of Team USA players in their rooms in the athletes’ village including letters, cards and pictures of support. This included a note from Brock Nelson’s grandfather Bill Christian who won a gold medal in 1960 and his uncle Dave Christian who was on hand for Sunday’s gold medal game and who won a gold medal in 1980.
- Team Switzerland forward Kevin Fiala sending a video message and texts of hope and support to his teammates after he suffered a season-ending injury in Team Switzerland’s second game of the group play against Canada.
- Team Canada’s Tom Wilson’s thunderous hit on Team USA’s Dylan Larkin in the gold medal game. Larkin admitted after he couldn’t remember being hit that hard. But he got up and created a turnover seconds later.