In case you somehow hadn’t heard yet, Team USA pulled off a historic overtime victory over Team Canada to secure the country’s first Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey since 1980.
Later that day, we got the reactions of most of the Utah Mammoth’s American players.
As always, Nate Schmidt was the most animated.
“It was amazing,” he said. “I’ve got goosebumps. It was so amazing. I was blessed, and I made sure to put on Sweet Home Alabama when I walked in this morning.”
He said he had some buddies in town visiting who skipped their flight home to be able to watch the end of the game.
Ian Cole was impressed by the Hughes family, whom he knows both through Michigan connections and from playing with Quinn on the Vancouver Canucks.
“For Quinn to score the OT winner (against Sweden in the quarterfinal) and then Jack to score (the OT winner in the gold medal game) ... Couldn’t be happier for them and for the whole team.”
“Play Free Bird, baby,” added Nick DeSimone.
DeSimone recalls the inspiration he took from the 2010 Olympics — even though Team USA lost — as well as TJ Oshie’s shootout performance in 2014. This game is sure to influence plenty of young Americans to follow in those footsteps.
“(It’s) stuff you won’t forget,” he said. “It’s a core hockey memory for me, so for kids watching that today, maybe (it’s) another one for them.”
Schmidt echoed a similar sentiment.
“They said it a lot during the broadcast, talking about how the 1980 team inspired a generation of players, right? Me included. It gives me goosebumps thinking this is going to inspire the next generation of kids to understand that this is what the pinnacle looks like,” he said.
Logan Cooley, who has one medal of each color from the various international tournaments in which he has participated, talked about the closeness that USA Hockey players have with each other.
“Just like all the players were saying after they won, just the brotherhood (stands out). You know, it just seems like they came together so close, the way they battled for each other,” he said. “It was cool to see and unbelievable to cap it off with a gold medal.”
And speaking of young Americans who will be inspired by that game, Cooley is one of them.
“As a competitor, you want to be in those big games,” he said. “You want to be representing your country on a world stage like that. You know, it’s so fun watching, but I couldn’t imagine being able to play in a gold medal game (at) the Olympics. ... I’m going to work as hard as I can to eventually make that team.”
Clayton Keller, the lone Mammoth representative on the team, has not yet returned to Utah, but he gave his thoughts postgame in an interview with KSL Sports.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” he said. “It’s a dream come true and to share it with this group of guys, it was just so much fun and I’m so lucky and blessed to be a part of this team and to have this experience — something we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.”
