U.S. vs. Canada for Olympic gold? A hockey script with excitement and drama

United States vs. Canada: An Olympic Script with a Hockey Flavor

If a screenwriter were tasked with creating the perfect ending for the men’s ice hockey tournament at the Olympic Games, the story could culminate with the United States defeating Canada in overtime for the gold medal. A narrative worthy of the best rivalries. Inspired by the excitement of professional wrestling, this scenario seeks to maximize interest in hockey in North America. Although I am Canadian, I consider this to be the ideal outcome. This idea could generate an impact similar to the “Miracle on Ice” of 1980.

The 1980 team captain, Mike Eruzione, confessed that he is tired of talking about that moment and longs to see a new generation achieve glory.

Mike Eruzione

An American victory in Milan could spark an explosion of interest similar to that of 1980. An increase in viewership is already being observed, and the program “Heated Rivalry” is attracting new fans. This triumph would be a moment of unity, where the United States would consecrate itself as the best in the world. The American team, with a stellar roster and great depth in goal, seems poised to achieve it. Furthermore, they have proven their worth with victories in the 2024 and 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships, and in the 2025 World Championship. For Canada, the defeat would be devastating. Seeing the United States, a team that Canada has beaten on multiple occasions, celebrate the championship would be worse than seeing Connor McDavid lose the Stanley Cup final. However, this could set up an exciting redemption arc for Canada, starting at the 2028 Hockey World Cup and culminating at the 2030 Olympic Games, where they will seek to reclaim glory. Such a scenario could generate a passionate debate about who is the best until the next showdown. The overtime scenario in the gold medal final is just one possibility. Another intriguing option would be for the United States to win gold without facing Canada in the elimination phase, which would give the Canadians the argument that, although the United States won, they never beat them directly. This would fuel a constant debate until the next meeting between the two nations. Imagine the excitement of a Canada vs. United States in the 2028 Hockey World Cup and the 2030 Olympic Games. Pure magic!

This week’s highlights

We are in the middle of the “Olympic season”, and ice hockey is the center of attention. Here is the complete schedule for men’s and women’s hockey. If you’re looking for another athlete with ties to hockey, skier Mac Forehand, a gold medalist at the X Games, will represent the United States in Milan Cortina. He is the cousin of Philadelphia Flyers forward Trevor Zegras.

Caption: Olympian Mac Forehand, on the left, has multiple connections to the hockey community.Courtesy of Arda OcalThe “Battle of Florida” is as exciting as any NHL rivalry, past or present. Last Thursday, a fight between the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Lightning resulted in 147 penalty minutes. Incredibly, it was the fourth-highest amount in a Panthers-Lightning game in history, and the second-highest in an NHL regular season game in 2025-26. The Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers lead the list with 154 on December 23rd. The “Battle of Florida” also produced 136 penalty minutes on December 27. In a preseason game in October, the teams combined for a total of 322 penalty minutes and 16 ejections. Based on the recent success of the Stanley Cup and the fiery nature of this dispute, Florida is definitely the “State of Hockey” in 2026.

Hart Trophy Candidates if the Season Ended Today

Connor McDavid leads the scoring table with 96 points, with six points in his last five games before the Olympics. Nathan MacKinnon has 93 points, with five points in his last five games. Nikita Kucherov has established a 10-point lead over Macklin Celebrini to take third place. With 13 points in his last five games, he now has a total of 91 this season. Kucherov has been dominating the competition lately and could easily surpass McDavid and MacKinnon once the NHL season restarts on February 25th.

Social Media Post of the Week

The news about Artemi Panarin’s transfer was revealed by Emily Kaplan and Adam Schefter. A dynamic duo that came together to offer one of the most important transfer news of the season.

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Recommendations of the week

“Star Wars” has a new hockey reference. Before that, I want to highlight Rancho Obi-Wan, the largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia in the world, certified by the Guinness World Record. There is a sports section among the 100,000 items, and one of them is a hockey puck from the Colorado Avalanche from Star Wars Night. What’s notable about this puck is that it’s from a game in the 2014-2015 season, one of the first organized in the NHL.

Now, about that hockey reference in the “Star Wars” universe. Mike Chen, who covered hockey a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (i.e., Fox Sports, Versus, and SB Nation), has released his latest Star Wars novel “Star Wars Outlaws: Low Red Moon”, a story featuring characters from the popular video game “Star Wars Outlaws”, released on February 3rd. “In fact, I started a few years earlier contributing to a Sharks site called The Feeder (which is still at LetsGoSharks.com) and freelancing for some of the early online sports media,” Chen told ESPN. “Everyone in that space knew each other, and eventually the bigger media outlets picked us up. So I ended up doing regular coverage for Fox Sports and Versus/Comcast while running SB Nation’s NHL site and writing for SB Nation’s Sharks sites, Fear The Fin and Battle of California.” Now for the reference. Technically there are two. One is a planet mentioned in the book called Arda. Was it explicitly named by me? Who knows. Did a planet called Arda already exist for years? It’s not clear. Nobody should investigate. Am I going to take credit for the naming of this planet and claim it as mine? You bet. The second is a character named Zeev Oversam, who is an executive corporate liaison with the Empire. Let’s unpack the name. Zeev definitely seems like a nod to Zeev Buium, current defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks. But in the 2024 NHL draft, the NCAA national champion with the Denver Pioneers was selected 12th overall by the Minnesota Wild. The Sharks had the selection directly before this and selected defenseman Sam Dickinson from the London Knights of the OHL at pick 11. Remember: Chen is a Sharks fanatic. Zeev Oversam. Zeev Over Sam.

Could this be the opinion of a Sharks fanatic on the draft decisions of General Manager Mike Grier? A clever way to sneak hockey names into The Galaxy Far, Far Away? Or both?

I didn’t ask Mike if this was the case. For now, I’m sticking with it being 1000% Star Wars (and hockey) canon.