Milan — It had to be United States and Canada For Olympic gold.
like Confronting the Four Nations A year ago it showed, North American powers They are at the top of the hockey world on the international stage. They proved that in this tournament, with The United States passes through Sweden Canada defeated the Czech Republic and Finland to achieve the highly anticipated final.
The gold medal will still mean everything to the players and coaches involved, but it’s fitting that there are two competitors on the border The last teams standing In Milan.
“If you want to reach your goal, you probably have to get past them at some point,” American winger Matthew Tkachuk said. “They have had success in almost every Olympic Games that NHL players have participated in. Two great teams, and I can only speak for ourselves. We are very excited about this opportunity, honored to represent our country and honored to be in this position.”
Canada won two Olympics featuring NHL players in 2010 And 2014. The United States has not captured a gold medal in men’s hockey since “Miracle on Ice” team in 1980.
This is ancient history. These countries have a more recent history of two epic 4 Nations games, including the first match that opened with three battles in nine seconds. Fighting is not allowed in the Olympics, although Canadian Tom Wilson did not care about the automatic expulsion When I drop the gloves Against France.
“There is no fight (but) I expect a tough match, as it was in the last two matches we played with them,” USA striker JT Miller said.
Canada May be abbreviated: Captain Sidney Crosby left The quarter-final match against the Czechs suffered an apparent right knee injury and he did not play in the semi-final against Finland, when his teammates recovered from a two-goal deficit to advance to the final.
The United States should be at full strength after winger Taji Thompson – who is tied for the team lead with three goals – left the semifinal match against Slovakia after blocking a shot. Thompson is expected to be ready for the biggest game of many players’ careers.
“Everyone who plays will be 50 one day, won’t play in the NHL anymore and will play thousands of games, and you’ll remember starting to finish a few games,” Tkachuk said. “Maybe this is one of them.”
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics