Caitlin Clark's Reaction to USA Hockey's Olympic Gold Medal Turns Heads
The United States of America closed out the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games with a bang on February 22, as its men's hockey team defeated Canada in overtime by a score of 2-1 to secure the country's first men's hockey Olympic gold medal since 1980.
The USA scored the first goal of the game in the first period before Canada answered back in the second. Neither team was able to score a goal in the third period, thus creating a winner-take-all overtime where just one goal would end the game and secure a gold medal.
And it was New Jersey Devils star forward Jack Hughes who landed that goal with a wicked shot just a few minutes into the overtime period, which made for the greatest moment in USA men's Olympic hockey for at least the last 46 years.
JACK HUGHES DELIVERED THE GOLDEN GOAL FOR TEAM USA 🥇🇺🇸
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) February 22, 2026
(via @NBCOlympics)pic.twitter.com/Vs8BUe2be1
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Of course, the only other game that could contend with this one in terms of USA Olympic history was what is referred to as the "miracle on ice". This is when an underdog USA team defied the odds and beat the Soviet Union to win a gold medal during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
Fascinatingly enough, this victory also arrived on February 22, which proves that this day is a blessed one when it comes to USA hockey. And while this Sunday's win wasn't as much of a miracle as that one, it's still just as meaningful, given how long this gold medal drought was.
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Caitlin Clark Shows Support for USA Hockey Olympic Gold Medal
Indiana Fever superstar guard Caitlin Clark seemed to have enjoyed the USA hockey team capturing this gold medal.
Soon after it happened, the @Nike Instagram account made a post that showed USA hockey players wearing their Nike jerseys with the caption, "It only took 46 years for this. @austonmatthews and @teamUSA Hockey win Gold over Canada after a wild Olympic final."
One of the photos was captioned, "No Miracles Needed".
Clark reposted this photo to her own Instagram story in the wake of Sunday's big win.
The hope is that Clark will be able to capture her own gold medal at the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, as one would imagine she'll make Team USA's women's basketball roster.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the Indiana Fever and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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