7 thoughts on yet another epic United States vs. Canada showdown

If you had any sort of confidence when the United States went to overtime against Canada for gold on Sunday, I'm immensely jealous.

You could bleed red, white, and blue. You could listen to Free Bird a zillion times. And it wouldn't change the fact that the Americans were woefully outmatched in a three-on-three setting. Truth be told, and not to be graphic, but I'm not sure you woulda been able to trust a fart with Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Cale Makar coming over the boards to kick things off for the Canadians.

In other words, the Americans needed a hero.

And they got it in... Jack Hughes.

Yes, that's right: Jack Hughes!

Think about where we were a year ago. The 4 Nations Face-Off had just ended with the Canadians winning, and Hughes was a complete nothing for the Americans. Actually, he was probably more of a liability than anything else. He suffered a season-ending injury a few weeks later, and that was that. Now, the struggles weren't enough to drop Hughes from the Team USA radar. He's still one of the most offensively gifted players in the NHL and was putting forth yet another point-per-game season, but the questions were there. Hughes put those to rest, though, and delivered when his team needed him most.

"He’s been through a lot with the shoulder surgeries, and I don’t think people what that does to a person," Quinn Hughes, Jack's brother, said following Team USA's win. "You don’t feel good for almost a year, but no one loves the game more than him, and I think people forget what a great player he is.

"He wants those big-time moments. I felt like he was going to make a play. When you looked around the room, I knew he wouldn't be nervous. That’s a guy that wants the puck, and I knew he would make a play."

Even before his golden goal, though, Hughes had to go through just about every range of emotion. He drew the double-minor (and paid for it in teeth) that gave his country a chance to seal it in regulation, and then took the penalty that could've made him "the man America hates," he said. His overtime also saw him have to fend off McDavid in a one-on-one battle towards the U.S. net.

After the game, Team USA head coach Mike Sullivan talked about this being a stage where legacies are built and defined. But the Hughes redemption arc goes beyond just a strong finish. He was everything the Americans needed throughout this tournament, and never looked too big for the moment that by all means crushed him a year ago when these countries last linked up.

“Jack had a terrific tournament from the first game on," Sullivan said of the New Jersey superstar. "The goals he scored were big-time goals [and] Jack was at the center of a lot of the good things that happened for our team."

The best thing that's happened to them in 46 years, actually, to be exact.

Here are some other thoughts and notes from another epic, best-on-best clash on the ice between the United States and Canada...

It was completely unfair to feel this way about one of the best goaltenders in the world, I admit, but there was something about Connor Hellebuyck that made me nervous. Even before this tournament began, really. It's entirely possible that it's just the residual of watching his Winnipeg club consistently underwhelm when it matters most, or maybe it was knowing that he's going against the big-game voodoo that is Jordan Binnington. But there was just something about Hellebuyck that gave me a bit more pause than I would have liked.

But on Sunday, Hellebuyck was, for large stretches, the only thing that made me feel like the Americans could pull this off. He was nails. Absolute nails. Things got chaotic, but not for Hellebuyck. You could see him freezing pucks when the Americans needed it, and you even caught him a few times almost offering words of encouragement to the men in front of him to relax and keep it calm.

All in all, it was a 40-of-41 performance in goal for Hellebuyck, and it left no doubt as to who is the face of American goaltending.

It was an ice-water-in-the-veins performance that the U.S. team needed to keep Canada's top guns at bay, and the kind of performances that Czechia's Lukas Dostal and Finland's Juuse Saros couldn't close the deal on in losses.

“[Hellebuyck] was a hero tonight for our team, without a doubt," Sullivan said postgame. "I think Connor was part of the foundation of this group from the get-go, dating back to the 4 Nations and throughout this tournament.” 

Last year really hurt Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy.

We all remember the clip of McAvoy, tears in his eyes and with his arm in a sling, reading the starting lineup for the USA-Canada game he missed in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game. That injury sustained while playing for his country cost him the rest of his season and McAvoy later admitted that it took a massive toll on him and even seemed to have him questioning if it was all worth it.

But healthy and given a second chance at skating in what he missed a year ago, McAvoy delivered. Utilized in a completely different role than what's asked of him when he's roaming the Boston blue line, McAvoy was arguably Team USA's most dependable defenseman in the defensive zone, and had a legitimately game-saving save behind Hellebuyck in the third period of the 1-1 game.

In addition to that goal-line save, McAvoy also had a perfect block on Macklin Celebrini's overtime look, which was perhaps Canada's best chance in the extra session. (And by calling it a perfect block, I mean it was the kind of block where McAvoy effectively denied the shot and kept the puck out of harm's way or careening towards the U.S. net where god knows what could've happened.)

I feel like some people aren't ready to talk about it, but McAvoy has actually had himself an awesome year to this point. Both for the Bruins and now Team USA. He was one of the most productive defensemen in the NHL at the time of his broken jaw, and has produced at a point-per-game pace since returning.

Former Bruins captain and current Panther Brad Marchand was a mere overtime goal away from becoming the latest member of the "Triple Gold Club" as someone who's won a Stanley Cup, world championship, and Olympic gold. It's something that's happened just three times since 2017, and its members include players like Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron, Joe Sakic, and Jaromir Jagr among others. It's basically the elite of elite when it comes to hockey accomplishments.

The Olympic gold is all Marchand needs to join the club, but you have to wonder if he gets another chance after this one here in 2026. Now, Marchand has made it known that he wants to play for as long as a team lets him. And his contract with the Panthers may very well give him that opportunity.

But can he remain productive enough between now and 2030 to still find himself on Team Canada's radar as a 41-year-old? If we were talking about any other country besides Canada, probably. Maybe even a certainty. But Canadian hockey, especially in the forward ranks, is a different beast.

Just think about some of the players they left at home this time around, and some of those players you almost expect to age into the Olympic program for Canada. Players like Conor Bedard, Dylan Guenther, and Wyatt Johnston immediately come to mind there, as well as the Canadian talents in the most recent draft and thsi next one coming this June.

I, like most, did not love Billy Guerin leaving both Jason Robertson and Cole Caufield (both of whom are tied for the third-most goals in the NHL this season, with 32) at home for the 2026 Olympics. Especially when an inability to score at key moments was one of the club's biggest issues at the 4 Nations. I know I wasn't alone here. Hell, it was the loudest criticism of this year's Team USA.

But Guerin can officially tell me and everyone else, "Scoreboard."

The Americans decided to bring J.T. Miller and Vinny Trocheck to Milan because of their penalty-killing prowess. That was on display to the tune of a perfect 18-for-18 run on the penalty kill, including a successful kill on what was a 1:33 5-on-3 advantage for Team Canada in the gold medal game. That successful 5-on3 kill came with a huge clear from Miller, too. Trocheck, meanwhile, finished the tournament as one of the best faceoff options, at 67 percent.

Can always argue with team building as a whole, but not if it absolutely does its job and delivers on its sole reason for being part of that team building.

Frauds! The Canadians are frauds!

OK, that's a bit extreme. But am I insane for thinking this team is a massive underachiever when you look at its talent versus its results? I know, this sounds downright bizarre to say with a team that was the No. 1 seed and the silver winner. But I mean, look at them, and look at what they did.

To get through the quarterfinals, the Canadians needed help on the power play against a Zacha-less Czechia team and still went to overtime, and then needed more late-game power-play help to get by a Barkov-less Finland in the semifinals. They also gagged on that aforementioned 5-on-3, and whiffed on another late-game power play, in the gold game against the USA.

Expectations are different in Canada, we'd all agree, so I'm curious how this team will be looked at as we get further and further from the tournament. They had talent on talent and talent, but it never felt like they got to their game.

I admittedly did not know we were doing 3-on-3 overtime in the Olympics. I knew they were doing it in the Worlds, but this was a surprise to me. And after going through with it, I gotta ask how we feel about it.

I think right now, I'm out on it. The games feel too important to come down to that. Now, understanding that you can't have a marathon Olympic game, I think I'd almost prefer some 4-on-4 before dropping down to 3-on-3 if necessary.

One guy who's not about it? Team Canada coach Jon Cooper.

"You take four players off the ice, now hockey's not hockey anymore," Cooper said after Canada's loss. "There's a reason overtime and shootouts are in play: It's all TV-driven to end games, so it's not a long time. There's a reason why it's not in the Stanley Cup Final or playoffs."

Couple of things here, if you don't mind. Cooper wasn't singing this tune when Canada downed Czechia during 3-on-3 play in overtime in the quarters. And how on earth are you gonna complain about 3-on-3 when your three are Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Cale Makar?!

Gotta be a hater from the start to be legit.