Team USA Hockey star T.J. Oshie gains 45k+ Twitter followers after shootout heroics

T.J. Oshie has 46 points for the NHL's St. Louis Blues this season. (Chicago Tribune/Getty Images)

St. Louis Blues and Team USA right winger T.J. Oshie exploded onto the national consciousness Saturday morning when he scored 4 goals on six shots in the United States shootout win over Russia, and he has an ever increasing Twitter following to show for it.

Twitter's headquarters announced that from the time the puck dropped until 12 P.M ET, Oshie's Twitter handle @OSH74 had more than 136,000 mentions, gaining more than 45,000 new followers in that period. As of this writing, Oshie's account added another 41,000 followers since that time, and is currently sitting at 176,000.

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Twitter also said the U.S.' tightly contested match against Russia drew more than 900,000 tweets during and immediately after the game.

EXTRA MUSTARD: T.J. Oshie's Game-Winning Shootout Goal as Called by Jim Ross