James Lang-Imagn ImagesThe US Men’s Hockey Team emerged victorious in Milan on Sunday, defeating team Canada in a 2-1 overtime thriller en route to their first Olympic gold medal since 1980.
J.T. Miller, Vincent Trocheck, Mike Sullivan, David Quinn, and Chris Drury all represented Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in some sort of capacity.
After the momentous win, Mike Sullivan, who served as the USA’s head coach, provided some interesting insight into how the team was constructed, offering one of the more unique quotes out there.
“The team was built with personality in mind… There are whiskey drinkers and milk drinkers, and we got a lot of whiskey drinkers,” Sullivan said via Mollie Walker of The New York Post.
Prior to the start of the Olympics, Team USA general manager Bill Guerin faced criticism for selecting more defensively minded, physical players like Miller and Trocheck instead of players predicated on skill, such as Cole Caufield and Jason Robertson.
Miller and Trocheck played vital roles for Team USA throughout the Olympic run, specifically on the penalty kill. The Americans did not give up a single power play goal over the course of the entire tournament, going a perfect 17-17 on the penalty kill.
“I’m pretty f–cking proud, I’ll be honest,” Trocheck said. “Yeah, we heard all the talk, that we shouldn’t be here…We were able to come here and we had a job to do, and it was to be good penalty kill guys, faceoff guys, character guys. We took that role and we ran with it.”
The New York Rangers will resume play on Thursday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.