USA Hockey sweeps for gold

By Annie Renz

A lot of gold, silver, and bronze is coming back to the United States. 

The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics concluded on February 22, and this year’s American athletes represented the country well, collecting 33 medals, the second most medals of competing countries. 

Twelve of those 33 medals were gold, marking the most amount of first-place finishes by Americans in Winter Olympics history.  

Norway ousted the U.S. for the most medals (41), while the Netherlands, host country Italy, and Germany rounded out the top five.  

For the first time in Olympic history, Team USA completed a sweep of gold medals for men’s and women’s ice hockey, and they did so in nearly identical fashion.  

Both teams defeated rival Canada in stunning 2-1 overtime thrillers.  

It’s the first time that the men’s side has won gold in exactly 46 years to the day of victory when the “Miracle on Ice” team defeated the Soviet Union.

The last time the women’s side claimed the gold was in 2018.  

Megan Keller and Jack Hughes leave Milan as heroes for their teams and country after their overtime goals. Hughes’ post-game smile for the cameras was one to remember. He traded two front teeth for a gold medal after taking a high stick to the mouth during the game.  

But it was a shut-out team performance as well. The women’s side completed a perfect 7-0 run throughout the tournament, with their only goal against being Canada’s in the final match.  

The men’s side finished with four wins and two overtime wins. 

The women’s captain, Hilary Knight, made history of her own in Milan. She broke the U.S. women’s record for career goals while playing for the national team (15) and broke the record for most career Olympic points (33). She is also the third Olympic hockey player, man or woman, to have five medals in a career.  

Men’s goalie Connor Hellebuyck put on a historic performance of his own, making 41 saves in the gold medal game.  

Celebrations for the players are likely to ensue, but for the women’s ice hockey team, that will not include a trip to the White House. 

The women’s team declined an invitation to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, citing scheduling issues.  

This comes after videos of the men’s team’s phone call with the President after their gold medal victory circulated online. In the video, Trump said he would have to invite the women’s team to the State of the Union address, and he joked that if he did not invite them, “I do believe I probably would be impeached.” 

Twenty members of the men’s team attended the White House event on February 24, shaking hands with the President inside his Oval Office.