BEIJING — The pass slid into the empty slot, and suddenly there was Brendan Brisson to pounce. Fresh off the United States bench in the second period at National Indoor Stadium, the 20-year-old winger wasted no time tracking the puck onto his backhand, shoveling it past the glove side of Canadian goalie Edward Pasquale, and kicking up a leg and pumping his arms in celebration as he skated away. “You grow up watching the Olympics,” Brisson said later, “and just imagining scoring a goal and winning games here, it’s just been amazing so far.”
In many ways, Brisson is wholly emblematic of the speedy and skilled American scions who beat their border rivals 4-2 on Saturday afternoon. Unlike four years ago, when a roster of retreads exited in the quarterfinals at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, this group boasts 15 current collegians, conjuring countless Miracle on Ice references and raising hopes of the country’s first men’s hockey medal since 2010. Among them is Brisson, a sophomore at Michigan and a 2020 first-round pick of the Vegas Golden Knights who reports filling his free time in Beijing with pin-trading, picture-taking and putting off the essays he has to write for English class.
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