Forty-six years to the day that Mike Eruzione’s late goal and the heroics of Jim Craig in goal lifted Team USA hockey to one of the greatest upsets in sports history in a semifinal victory over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, the U.S. men’s hockey team penned another American fairytale at the Olympics.
Team USA is gold medalists for the first time since The Miracle nearly a half-century ago, with help from Long Island native and NHL defenseman Charlie McAvoy. Team USA allowed just nine goals in six games and held opponents to just one on four occasions. Notably, the Americans allowed just a single goal against Canada in a 2-1 overtime win in the gold-clinching game. New Jersey Devils superstar Jack Hughes’ golden goal less than two minutes into 3-on-3, sudden-death overtime to lift the Stars & Stripes to a 2-1 victory over their fiercest rivals and the sport’s most imposing juggernaut, Canada, 2-1 on Feb. 23 to close out the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina.
“Can’t even put it into words,” McAvoy said in an interview with NBC after the victory. “We’re gold medalists. This team did something that hasn’t been done since [1980] and we’re the third team in history to do this for America. This group is going to walk together forever.”
READ MORE: Long Island’s 2026 Winter Olympics competitors
This is the first time Team USA has ever won men’s hockey gold with NHL players on the roster. It is also just the third gold ever for the American men at the Olympics, with their first coming in 1960 in Squaw Valley.
Finally, the US has a stake in claiming that this is, in fact, a legitimate rivalry with Canada rather than a one-sided geographic coincidence. Canada had been 4-1 against the Americans with NHLers at the Olympics, including gold-medal-game victories on U.S. soil in Salt Lake City in 2002 and Sidney Crosby’s golden goal in 2010 in Vancouver.
McAvoy, who grew up in Long Beach, was a defenseman on the United States’ men’s hockey team. He spent a year at Long Beach High School before moving to Michigan to finish his schooling, and eventually went on to play hockey collegiately at Boston University.
He was drafted in the first round of the 2016 NHL Draft by the Boston Bruins. The then-20-year-old made his debut and was named to the league’s All-Rookie team. In his nine NHL seasons, McAvoy has 64 goals and is a one-time All-Star.
In the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, McAvoy served as an assistant captain for the Americans. En route Team USA’s gold medal victory, McAvoy played in all six games and logged the second-most time on the ice of any American.
McAvoy wasn’t the only Long Islander competing on the world’s stage. Henry Rivers IV has a far less conventional story.
Hailing from West Babylon, Rivers IV represented Jamaica on the ski slopes, participating in slalom. Rivers IV trained at the Stratton Mountain School in Vermont and comes from a competitive skiing family.
Born as a triplet, the Rivers siblings had their eyes set on competing as a triad in Milano Cortina. However, only Henri qualified.
Though he caught an edge and failed to finish his run down the slalom course, Rivers IV certainly has a career ahead of him. At just 18 years old, he hopes to compete again in 2030 but alongside his twin sisters.
George Caratzas is a reporter with The SBU Media Group, part of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism’s Working Newsroom program for students and local media.
-With Joe Pantorno
