Burned in Zach Werenski’s memory is the first U.S. practice at the 4 Nations Face-Off last February.
“You look around and see the skill,” Werenski said. “I was like, ‘This is fast.’ It’s wave after wave, player after player.”
US men’s hockey picks a 4 Nations-heavy roster for Milan Olympics, including ex-Blackhawk Seth Jones
He and his countrymen fell short at that tournament, which was designed to be an appetizer of sorts for the return of NHL players to the Olympics. Over the summer, when the country’s best gathered again for an orientation camp ahead of next month’s Games in Milan, USA Hockey general manager Bill Guerin told them that nothing but gold would suffice.
“I love it,” winger Matt Boldy said. “You shouldn’t be doing anything unless you’re trying to be the best at it.”
The U.S. has not won a so-called “best-on-best” international competition at the adult level in three decades dating to the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. It has not won men’s gold at the Olympics since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team.
The overflowing talent and the winning pedigree of the players going to Italy make Guerin’s expectation as realistic as ever.
“Everyone knows we have the team,” top defenseman Quinn Hughes said. “I don’t think anyone would be surprised if we won, so I think that that should be our goal. It’s kind of gold or bust, just like it is for Canada.”
The U.S. lost to Canada in the final at 4 Nations, in the semifinals at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi and in the gold medal game at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. The neighbor to the north is set to have four of the best players in the world on its roster with Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and two-time Olympic champion Sidney Crosby together for the first time.
American talent adds up, too, from a stacked blue line led by Hughes, Werenski, Charlie McAvoy and Jaccob Slavin and a forward corps featuring Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews and brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk to elite goaltenders Connor Hellebuyck and Jake Oettinger. NHL standouts Dylan Larkin and Jack Hughes are expected to be depth contributors.
“It’s not just having a good team on paper,” Guerin said. “It’s actually getting it done.”
The U.S. has gotten it done at other levels for many years now, winning four of the past eight world junior championships (for players under age 20) and a handful of under-18 titles over the past decade-plus.
“It starts at that age,” defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “The younger generation, you start to see it kind of develop and grow, and I think winning those tournaments is really showing how many strides USA Hockey has taken.”
Strides in coaching have also helped. Two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach Mike Sullivan is back in charge after being behind the bench at 4 Nations, when his team showed flashes of dominance and came one goal away from winning it all.
Werenski, who last spring helped the U.S. win the world championship for the first time since 1933, knows it would be foolish to overlook teams like Czechia, Switzerland, Slovakia and Germany. But he agrees with Guerin that such a strong showing in games against Canada, Sweden and Finland in a meaningful tournament will carry over to Milan.
“Those are three teams and they’re great measuring sticks on where you’re at, and I just really like the way we played and how hard we played and how close we were,” Werenski said. “That tournament gave us a lot of confidence still in terms of knowing that we can beat anyone on any given night.”
The U.S. plays against Latvia on Feb. 12, Denmark on Feb. 14 and Germany on Feb. 15 before, barring upsets, moving into the single-elimination quarterfinals Feb. 18. There is not much time to acclimate after they arrive Feb. 8.
Guerin brought back the vast majority of players from 4 Nations because he liked the chemistry of the group, and that did not just materialize over a couple of weeks in Montreal and Boston. This generation of Americans grew up playing together, many at the U.S. National Team Development Program, and at tournaments worldwide along the way.
“In a weird way, everyone’s just buddies,” Werenski said. “We’re all just good friends and good hockey players and I think that’s what really helps us.”
Friendship won’t by itself overcome a multigoal deficit or crack a hot goalie threatening medal contenders at the Olympics. But players think setting the standard at gold is the right place to start because the U.S. has been building for this for a long time.
“The biggest thing we need to do now is just get over the hump of winning at the biggest stage,” Jack Hughes said. “Winning the Olympics, that’d be massive and completely put us over the hump. And that’s the expectation.”