The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina Italy have come to an end. The American squad has won their first gold medal in Olympic Hockey since 1980. The Final score was a 2-1 OT thriller after Jack Hughes won the game for the Americans in 3 on 3 OT. Congrats to Jets players Connor Hellebuyck, Kyle Connor, Team USA and their fans. It was a great tournament and Winter Olympics in general.
46 years later, Hellebuyck follows in Craig’s footsteps, and leads @usahockey to 🥇 pic.twitter.com/uz5NY6CFGQ
— Goalie Gear Nerd (@GoalieGearNerd) February 22, 2026
Brilliant performance from Hellebuyck
Make no mistake about it, Hellebuyck was the primary reason the United States won this gold medal game. Team Canada outshot Team USA almost 2:1 while the quality scoring chances were even more lopsided. It was very ironic that Canada dominated the majority of this game and lost when in previous match-ups between the two nations on the big stages, the games were far closer on the ice despite Team Canada coming out on top in the medal rounds.
In addition to stopping Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini on breakaways, Hellebuyck also stymied the Canadians when they had a lengthy 5 on 3 PP where all 5 Canadian skaters may very well one day be first ballot Hall of Famers.
🇺🇸Connor Hellebuyck: “I feel incredible. A lot of critics around my game the last couple years & all I can continue to do is go out & perform & play my game & hope that what I do is enough & this kind of proves it”https://t.co/SeTRJwa1Ua
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) February 22, 2026
Up until now, all of Hellebuyck’s accomplishments were regular season awards. He is a 3-time Vezina trophy winner, awarded to the best goaltender in an NHL regular season. He is a Jennings Trophy winner, awarded to the goaltender(s) allowing the fewest goals in a single regular season. He is also a Hart Trophy winner, awarded to the regular season MVP.
This performance in the gold medal game was his single best performance in any kind of elimination game/playoffs and yes that includes the game 7 OT victory over the St. Louis Blues last spring.
Connor got spare part treatment for Team USA
Despite being the player with the second most points on the team coming into the tournament, dating back to the 4-Nations tournament, Kyle Connor never seemed to be a favourite of head coach Mike Sullivan.
Therefore, it was no surprise he didn’t play in any of the elimination games. He still gets his gold medal. Keep in mind: Simply making the team acknowledges a player is among the best of the best.
Nevertheless, it was disappointing not to see Connor get a prominent role on Team USA.
Morrissey becoming unreliable
Dating back to last year, it is now 3 consecutive playoffs/tournaments in which Josh Morrissey has been unavailable to play until the end with his team. He missed the 4 Nations final due to illness. He missed the last few games of the 2nd round series vs the Dallas Stars last spring due to a leg injury.
This time around, he was unable to finish the first-round robin game with Team Canada. For the Winnipeg Jets to have any deep playoff runs in the future, they need their #1 defenceman to be more durable than he has been in the last 12 months when games matter most.
