It took six tries, but on Sunday the United States finally won a best-on-best men’s Olympic hockey tournament.
The Americans have spent the days afterwards speedrunning the United States experience: carrying center and game-winning goalscorer Jack Hughes through the Olympic village in Italy, partying in Miami, receiving a hero’s welcome at the State of the Union address from President Donald Trump, and apologizing (somewhat) for dissing their fellow gold medalists, the national women’s hockey team, while talking to him.
On Wednesday, Hughes returned to the friendly confines of Newark, N.J., to a raucous greeting from Devils fans before their game against the Sabres. Hughes embraced international teammate and Buffalo center Tage Thompson to thunderous chants of “U-S-A!”—thought to have been popularized around 1980’s Miracle on Ice.
“I’m so proud and I’m so happy that the men’s and women’s USA hockey teams brought gold medals back to the United States of America,” an emotional Hughes said.
Hughes’s brother—Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes—also returned to the United States a gold medalist, and an Olympic overtime goalscorer (in the quarterfinal against Sweden).
The 24-year-old son of 1992 world silver medalist Ellen Weinberg-Hughes has scored 153 goals for New Jersey to date, and surely more are to come. None, however, will change his life quite like his goal on Feb. 22, 2026.
More Winter Olympics on Sports Illustrated
- Connor McDavid Had Blunt Response to Brutal Question After Team Canada’s Olympic Loss
- Hilary Knight Addresses Backlash Over President Trump’s Joke About Women’s Hockey Team
- Speedskater Jordan Stolz’s Path to Olympic Gold at Milan Cortina 2026
- Johnny Gaudreau’s Parents Open Up About Special Gold Medal Celebration at Winter Games
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jack Hughes Hugs Tage Thompson, Addresses Devils Fans in Return From Olympics.
