MILAN — For weeks before the Milan Cortina Olympics opened, a central fascination was whether the still-under-construction home of ice hockey, Santagiulia Arena, would be ready.
U.S. men’s players publicly shared little consternation about its condition, perhaps because they had concerns of their own.
Would they be built for this moment, too?
In 24 previous Olympics, the U.S. men have medaled 11 times. But only two have been gold, in 1960 and 1980. While this team’s ultimate goal may be to replicate the golden feat of that 1980 “Miracle On Ice” team, the U.S. hasn’t medaled on ice, period, since 2010.
Its pursuit of a medal began Thursday with a 5-1 win against Latvia that belied the game’s slog through the first period and a half.
After Brady Tkachuk’s opening goal five minutes into the first period, the U.S. appeared headed toward a comfortable win as Quinn Hughes added a second goal just 90 seconds later. But when a review for offsides wiped away the score, Latvia answered with its own 30 seconds later.
Later in the period, another U.S. goal was disallowed, after Latvia challenged again, this time for goaltender interference. Like the first challenge, the overturned call drew fervent boos in a pro-U.S. crowd at Santagiulia Arena. Despite doubling Latvia’s number of shots, the U.S had no edge to show on the scoreboard.
By the second period’s end, however, Latvia’s scare had worn off. The U.S. scored three times in the period’s final nine minutes to break open a 4-1 lead. A scoreboard operator cut to a fan in a maroon Latvian sweater covering his eyes with his palm, unable to watch.
Brock Nelson finished with two goals for the U.S.
In its attempt to break that streak of three consecutive Olympics without a medal, USA Hockey assembled a roster ranked sixth in the world that is the sixth-oldest roster, by average age, in Team USA history. Despite that experience, overall, the roster has seen little of the Games. Out of 25 players, only defensemen Brock Faber and Jake Sanderson had ever played in the Olympics before Thursday.
The U.S. joins Canada and Sweden, the two other heavy favorites to medal, as the only teams made up entirely of NHL players. The U.S. roster includes two pairs of brothers — Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, and Quinn and Jack Hughes — and a captain, Auston Matthews, who has more NHL goals than any player since he entered the league a decade ago.
The 10th-ranked team in the world hockey federation’s rankings, Latvia wasn’t a pushover opponent, despite the U.S.’s nearly four-to-one advantage in NHL players. The way the U.S. was able to pour on the scoring, adding four goals in 15 minutes spanning the second and third periods, was a reminder of the optimism that has followed the U.S. into these Olympics, despite their struggles since the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
It was the U.S., after all, that won the world championship in May for the first time since 1960. Five players from that team are here in Milan, including Zach Werenski, whose 62 points this season are second-most in the NHL.
Fans began leaving Santagiulia Arena with seven minutes still to play Thursday. The U.S. will close the preliminary round with games Saturday against Denmark, and Sunday against Germany.
