USA Hockey is Here to Stay
Team USA Shows Their Ready to Win on the Big Stage
After defeating Canada in the preliminary round, Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said it was Team USA’s time when he suited up for USA Hockey at the Four Nations Faceoff. Unfortunately, Team USA fell in overtime to Canada in the Gold Medal Game of the Four Nations Faceoff.
Though the Americans could match the Canadiens stride for stride and punch for punch, they did not have the winning edge to beat them twice in the same tournament. Team USA came up one goal short and played little brother to Canada at a best-on-best International Hockey Tournament.
However, that heartbreak set the stage for the 2025 IIHF World Championship. Team USA capped off an incredible International Hockey season by ending a 92-year drought by winning a gold medal at the event for the first time since 1933.
Tage Thomspon, who was held off the Team USA roster at the Four Nations Faceoff, scored the game-winning, overtime-winning, Golden Goal for the Americans. Team USA defeated Switzerland by a score of 1-0 in overtime for the gold medal.
In 2025, Team USA won gold at the World Juniors, World Championships, and Women’s Under-18s. In addition, Team USA got silver at the Women’s World Championships and Four Nations and a bronze medal at the Men’s U-18s. What a season to remember.
However, given the circumstances surrounding the Men’s World Championships. This is a significant step in how top players from the United States view this tournament going forward.
Remember, Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin, who called out the top U.S.-born players for not taking the IIHF World Championships seriously after Team USA's overtime loss to Team Canada at the Four Nations Faceoff.
“We’ve had a tough time with USA Hockey getting guys to play in the world championships, and I think guys that are at home watching this, I’m hoping they’re wanting a piece of it," Larkin said. “They got to go to the world championships and prove themselves and play for their country.”
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But he was not the only one. During his appearance on the Sheet with Jeff Marek on Daily Faceoff, former NHL and USA Hockey GM Brian Burke criticized players for not going to the tournament.
It's great that Dylan said that. It's a real problem for us as a country to get people to go. I beg people to go. I've threatened people, and if they don't go, they'll never be asked again. So it's a big problem. Getting people to go is a huge problem. It's not new. I begged, I've threatened, I've said to people, you want to be on the Olympic team, you got to come. They still don't come. There's not enough national pride in that tournament.
Well, that changed this year with Jeremy Swayman, Zach Werenski, Logan Cooley, Conor Garland, Clayton Keller, Shane Pinto, and Matty Beniers all going over to play. Every one of these players contributed to USA Hockey winning Gold. These guys wanted to win and win for Johnny Gaudreau, who tragically lost his life before the season started.
But this group of players wanted to prove they could win on this stage. Most of the group had played in the Under-20s (World Juniors) or Under-18s, and some had played at prior World Championship events.
However, they went out every game to play the right way and show the world that Team USA is the best in the world. They did just that.
“We’re raising the bar,” goaltender Jeremy Swayman told the media after winning gold. “It’s a new regime. We want to make it that way. USA Hockey is here to stay, and this is the first for us to do that.”
Team USA showed they could win games in different ways. If you need goals, they can score. But if the game called for a patient and defensive play, Team USA can do that, too. The Americans “out Finland-Finland” in the quarterfinals by playing a strong defensive game and capitalizing on turnovers.
Then, in the semifinals, the Americans broke the game wide open by creating scoring chances with a hot shot volume against Sweden. Any scoring chance Team USA had it was because players threw pucks on net to get rebound chances. More often than not, the Americans scored.
In the Gold Medal Game, it was a tight affair against Switzerland. Though the team’s traded scoring chances, goaltender Jeremy Swayman was right there to slam the door shut. But when opportunity struck, Tage Thompson delivered in overtime.
San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky got players into a defensive system. Every player knew their role, and Team USA got the result it wanted at this tournament for the first time since 1933. There is a reason why Warsofsky needs to be the coach or at least be an assistant for the 2026 Olympics; he knows how to coach on the big stage.
In the future, you will see more top U.S. players play at the World Championships if they are not playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Winning is contagious. You see it at every level. Each year, a new crop of players want to win gold at these events.
Even some returning players want to try to repeat the feat. For the first time in history, USA Hockey did that at the 2024 and 2025 World Juniors. It had been done on the women’s side at the World Championships. However, the next big goal for Team USA is to prove they can double gold at the Olympics and then repeat like Canada.
But their win at the 2025 World Championships proves to the rest of the hockey world that Team USA is not going anywhere anytime soon. USA Hockey is a powerhouse and a threat to win at any level, and has become the perennial hockey country in the world.
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