MILAN – Coach Mike Sullivan wanted his players to know what a select group they can join if they win their next game. His players emphasized the importance of enjoying the moment and not overthinking the magnitude.
It is with a blend of those two focal points as the USA hockey team enters the last game of the 2026 Winter Olympics men’s tournament on Feb. 22, facing off against rival Canada for the biggest prize in international hockey.
‘There’s 36 American-born hockey players that have gold medals,’ Sullivan said on Feb. 21. ‘What an incredible opportunity we have in front of us. That was the discussion we had, and I think these guys, they’re excited about it. We know it’s a big challenge.’
Players don’t reach the pinnacle of their sport without being mentally tough, but for all 25 NHLers on Team USA, these Games are their Olympic debut. Now here they are, playing for gold, playing for history.
‘Any time you’re in this position, you’re not playing for yourself,’ Matthew Tkachuk said. ‘You’re playing for your country. You’re playing for the guys that have come before you. You’re playing for the generation that will be coming after that. We could do something hopefully special and there’s a new crop of athletes that want to be hockey players. It’s two of probably the best teams ever, maybe, and it’s going to be one unbelievable game.’
The last time USA advanced that far was in 2010, ending with a loss to Canada. Before that, it was 2002, also a loss to Canada. Brock Nelson, however, has family history on which to rely: His grandfather, Bill Christian, was on the 1960 gold medal-winning USA team and his uncle, Dave Christian, was on the famed 1980 championship roster.
‘it sounds kind of crazy but they both really have just said to take it day-by-day and enjoy it and have fun,’ Nelson said. ‘I remember my grandfather saying Squaw Valley is such a different setup, small town. Lake Placid same thing. You see the new documentary when those guys go back there, you see this small village. How crazy it is that they had the Olympics there compared to the setup here. Super fun to have my uncle here to share it and take it all in. Crazy to be in this spot now knowing what he’s accomplished and having the opportunity to do the same thing.”
Nelson and his grandfather text before and after every game. While he has that personal insight, the rest of the players are in on the message. Asked how he would pass the time before the game, which starts at 2:10 p.m. in Milan, Brady Tkachuk planned to do the same thing he’s been doing since the team arrived on Feb. 8.
‘Eat pasta, hang out and, just relax,’ he said. ‘I think if you overthink it, you’re going to miss the fun of it.’
Mike Eruzione, the captain of the 1980 team and the man who scored the game-winning goal against the Soviet Union, has been in Milan and impressed upon the 2026 team what it means to win gold. He sent a message to the women’s team showing his medal, that gold is the color they want. So they did, beating Canada in overtime on Feb. 19. Now it’s the men’s turn to absorb the message.
‘He shared stories and his perspective and everything but mostly he’s said, leave it all out there,’ USA captain Auston Matthews said. ‘This is what you play for, this is what you came here for, to have this opportunity.
‘A gold medal is on stake and that’s a pretty thing, so that’s what the focus is on. Making sure we’re prepared to play and have fun with it and enjoy it. The Olympics come around every four years so it’s something we want to embrace and go have fun with and go leave it all on the ice.’
Similar rosters to the ones here met a year ago at the NHL-organized 4 Nations Face-Off, where USA beat Canada early in the tournament but lost in the final game. The USA hasn’t won gold at the Olympics since 1980, while Canada last won gold in 2014 in Sochi.
‘As Canadians, we take a lot of pride in this sport, and guys that have come before us have done a great job representing the country,’ Connor McDavid said. ‘I think we’ve played good hockey and put ourselves in a good spot to hopefully do the same.
‘The experience has been great. I think the hockey has been amazing.. The level of competition has been amazing. The parity between all the countries has been very good, close games, exciting. Now it comes down to one game.’
As early as the game will be in North America – from 8:10 a.m. ET to 5:10 a.m. PT – Team Canada knows knows what is at stake.
‘We know there’s 40 million people at home on the edge of their seat waiting for this to happen,’ Canada coach Jon Cooper said. ‘I just want everybody to know, it wasn’t easy to get here for either team. I think everybody who thought this was going to happen, or hoping in North America it was going happen, but the Swedes nearly pushed the U.S. out. The Czechs nearly pushed us out. The Finns gave us everything we could handle.
‘So you have to tip your hat to both these teams and say you know what, there was adversity for both these teams to get here. But now we are here. And I think if 4 Nations taught us anything, it’s how beautiful this game is and how intense it is. And if that was the appetizer, I think this is going be the main course, having Olympic medals.’