CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – They chanted “U‑S‑A” and a few openly wept at Lake Placid’s Olympic Center, the same building where the “Miracle on Ice” happened exactly 46 years earlier. In Ohio, some waved flags inside a packed bar. And in Florida, a man played baseball while wearing a USA Hockey jersey.
The man was George Springer, who plays for the Toronto Blue Jays. Canadians might not have appreciated his wardrobe.
USA 2, Canada 1. The U.S. men are Olympic hockey gold medalists for the first time since 1980 after topping their rivals to the north in overtime Sunday in Milan. The country – even though the game started at 8 a.m. Eastern, 5 a.m. Pacific – was clearly watching, and when it ended, overjoyed reactions could be found from sea to shining sea.
“Extremely proud,” Florida Panthers forward Mackie Samoskevich said.
In Madison, Wisconsin, the goal horns went off at the Badgers’ hockey arena before the powerhouse women’s team hosted St. Cloud State because the gold‑medal game was being shown on the arena screen. When Jack Hughes scored the winner, the crowd erupted.
Among those celebrating: the St. Cloud State women’s team, who were watching even though they had their own game to prepare for. Wisconsin, coached by Mark Johnson, who played for the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team, won its game 4‑2.
“I wasn’t here for the Miracle game, obviously, since I’m only 44,” said Jackie Palmateer, a vacationer who watched from the arena in Lake Placid on Sunday. “We were going to go skiing, and then this happened, and you have to watch the game, and I said, ‘Why would we want to watch this from the hotel?’ So, we came here. It’s like seeing history happen when you’re already in the museum.”
The White House took notice, with President Donald Trump posting on social media, “Congratulations to our great U.S.A. Ice Hockey team. THEY WON THE GOLD. WOW!” Other politicians weighed in as well. Sen. Amy Klobuchar posted a video of a hockey bar, Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub in St. Paul, Minnesota, packed at 7 a.m. local time. “They don’t call Minnesota the State of Hockey for nothing,” she wrote.
And in South Florida, the Elbo Room – a preferred hangout spot for Matthew Tkachuk – was full for the early start, then erupted when the Americans prevailed.
It was must‑see TV, even across other sports.
Some NBA teams might not have been watching customary pregame film Sunday. They were watching hockey instead.
“I wasn’t waking up at 5:30,” Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “But incredible, what an incredible sporting event, competition at its highest, amazing to watch.”
Kerr had dual rooting interests: He coached the U.S. men’s basketball team to gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and the Warriors’ vice president of player health and performance is Rick Celebrini – father of Canada forward Macklin Celebrini, someone the organization follows closely.
The Miami Marlins gathered in their spring training clubhouse to watch overtime, with chants of “U‑S‑A” breaking out when Hughes scored. Springer, according to MLB.com, bolted from the Blue Jays’ clubhouse to celebrate outside when the U.S. won, then took live batting practice in his USA Hockey jersey.
In Mesa, Arizona, the Athletics watched the final together inside the Hohokam Stadium clubhouse – and Canadian center fielder Denzel Clarke was left heartbroken.
A’s manager Mark Kotsay said the game was “pretty incredible.” But he felt for Clarke, too.
“Well, it was one against 72 in there,” Kotsay said. “He would have definitely let us all know about it. So, we kind of got fortunate and very thankful for Team USA to win the gold today. Not much does quiet Denzel, but it definitely quieted him.”
It wasn’t quiet in Lake Placid – or anywhere else in the U.S. that had the game on Sunday. What happened on Feb. 22, 1980, with the “Miracle” team will always resonate, and odds are, so will what happened on Feb. 22, 2026, with this golden group.
“The next generation,” U.S. goalie Connor Hellebuyck said, “has something to look up to.”
On Sunday, it felt like an entire nation agreed.
