MILAN — The USA men’s hockey team begins its Olympic tournament on Thursday with a group stage game against Latvia. The U.S. has not won gold in men’s Olympic hockey since the 1980 Miracle on Ice team, and the Americans have not shied away from what’s at stake. It’s gold or bust. “That’s the expectation,” captain Auston Matthews said.
The Americans have had three practices, and several team bonding events since arriving in Milan, including a hang session with Snoop Dogg and an outing to support the U.S. women’s team against Canada. Here’s everything we’ve learned so far about the team as it begins its quest for Olympic glory.
Expect a familiar look
GM Bill Guerin didn’t make a ton of changes from the 4 Nations team that finished second to Canada. Remember, in Olympic hockey, you can dress 13 forwards and seven defensemen.
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Team USA felt the complexion of its 4 Nations tournament changed after putting Brady and Matthew Tkachuk together on a line. “I thought they were the catalyst for our team becoming the team,” coach Mike Sullivan said.
Expect the Smash Brothers to start on a line with Jack Eichel as the center. Matthews should center the other top line, flanked by Matt Boldy and Jake Guentzel. Then it’s Kyle Connor, Dylan Larkin and Tage Thompson and a fourth line of Jack Hughes, Brock Nelson and J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck rotating in.
The Americans are keeping their top 4 Nations shutdown pairing of Jaccob Slavin and Brock Faber together; Quinn Hughes is with Charlie McAvoy and Jake Sanderson is with Zach Werenski. If things go awry, don’t be surprised to see Quinn Hughes and Faber get together, as they’ve developed great chemistry over the past two months with the Minnesota Wild. Noah Hanifin is the seventh defenseman and will likely see limited time.
Sullivan said the coaching staff has discussed how to use the extra player at each position, and a lot of it could be situational. For example, you can expect to see Trocheck in certain faceoff situations, as well as the penalty kill.
Clayton Keller and Jackson LaCombe appear to be the two players on the outside.
USA won’t announce it until game day, but all signs point to Connor Hellebuyck getting the first start in net. I know the management group feels the Winnipeg Jets goaltender deserves it based on his résumé, including winning the Hart Trophy and Vezina last season.
The top power-play unit appears to be Quinn Hughes, Eichel, Matthews, Thompson and Matthew Tkachuk. That’s a serious glow up for Thompson, a snub from the 4 Nations team. The management and coaching staff feel the Sabres star deserves the role based on how he has played this season — and they also don’t have a ton of right shots on the team.
The Americans are committed to the full Olympic experience
Team Canada decided to spend one night in the athletes village, then check into hotels. That already has generated a bit of a firestorm, which Canada GM Doug Armstrong said on Wednesday “has grown a little larger than it is.” Armstrong said it’s a similar decision Canada has made in past tournaments.
The American men, meanwhile, have fully committed to the Olympic experience. While the rooms are certainly not the five-star hotels they’re used to on the NHL circuit, they’re comfortable enough. Team USA players have said it has helped them come together as a team, and also interact with other American athletes. The players discussed the setup being reminiscent of college dorm rooms, with many players getting roommates. Assignments included brothers Jack and Quinn staying together, as well as a room of the Tkachuks, which Matthew dubbed “Club Tkachuk.”
“I think they probably push their beds together,” Eichel said of the Tkachuks. “If we hear someone go through a wall in the middle of the night, you probably know where it came from.”
No more gripes about the arena
The construction delays and concerns with Santagiula Arena were heavily publicized over the past few months. Organizers weren’t able to deliver it exactly as advertised. It was supposed to have a capacity of 14,000 and it will seat only around 11,000. The luxury suites are incomplete and some areas can still feel like a construction zone. Most concerning for NHL players: the dimensions are about 3 feet shorter than NHL standards, with the lost space accounted for in the neutral zone. The practice rink is outside under a tent, and has no netting to protect spectators.
But now that we’re here, you won’t hear the players complaining.
Those who have practiced or played games on the ice say it may feel a little funny, but they don’t believe it’s dangerous. The NHLPA says its only concern as of now is making sure that players’ families are taken care of.
“You can tell the ice is kind of new, right? I mean, there probably hasn’t been a whole lot of play in skating on it. I’m sure over the next few days, as more sessions go through, it’ll harden up,” Eichel said after Team USA’s first practice. “It feels more like an international rink where the stands aren’t right on top of you and what we’re used to in North America, but at the end of the day, it’s a hockey rink. There’s a red line, a couple blue lines. There’s two nets and a bunch of faceoff dots and circles. It’s the same thing. So we’ll adapt and be ready to go.”
Visually, Santagiulia is stunning.
“It’s one of the greatest rinks I’ve ever seen on the outside at night, like when the lights and everything, it’s phenomenal,” Canada coach Jon Cooper said. “I think some of the stories that came out of the Olympics, it’s an injustice to what actually it feels like in the arena. It’s fantastic.”
Officiating standards
The Olympics are an IIHF event, and their rule book is slightly different from the NHL rule book. The most obvious difference is a ban on fighting. The three fights in nine seconds that shook up the 4 Nations tournament and made it a cultural phenomenon? All six fighters would have been immediately ejected. (That hasn’t prevented sportsbooks from releasing odds on whether either or both Tkachuks will fight in the Olympics.)
There are 26 officials working the men’s tournament; 13 are from the NHL. Players will see familiar referees like Wes McCauley and Chris Rooney, and they know what their standard is on certain plays. There has been communication on all sides, including a camp in Buffalo in August and a call again this week with coaches, to stress standards for the Olympics. International officials have been told what the NHL views as a clean, hard hit — often what you see from Tom Wilson or Brady Tkachuk — but it could be a learning curve in real time. All sides are hoping this tournament can help standardize the game internationally, as the rule books have inched closer in recent years.
The American players sounded nonplussed.
“For me, individually, it’s not going to really change much. Just going to go out there and play how I need to play,” Brady Tkachuk said. “I don’t think our team is just physical. I think our team can play any aspect that the game provides. We have some of the generational skill with some guys and the compete and the character in our room is the highest I’ve ever been around. I think that’s what’s going to make us special, is the versatility of whatever the game provides, knowing that’s the way we need to play.”
Health updates
As the 4 Nations tournament progressed, I started to hear about players who weren’t 100% but were gutting it through — and might not be available for their club teams after the tournament. Expect the same in this tournament; that’s how important Olympic gold is for so many players.
The good news for Team USA is that everyone is available to start. Jack Hughes missed the final three games before the break for the New Jersey Devils with a lower-body injury, but is a full go here with no limitations. Slavin has played only 17 games for the Hurricanes this season and around the time of the roster announcement, I was hearing it wasn’t guaranteed he would go to Milan. But it sounds like he has moved past those concerns and is also a full go.
McAvoy was hoping to rid himself of the shield he’s been wearing after jaw surgery, but after taking a high hit from Florida’s Sandis Vilmanis before the break, he’ll be keeping his protection on for now.
Then there’s Matthew Tkachuk, who missed the first half of the season for the Florida Panthers while recovering from surgery to repair a torn abductor muscle and sports hernia. He has played 10 games for the Panthers.
“For NHL players, 10 is plenty, especially an elite player like Matthew,” Guerin said.
