Brady Tkachuk Says USA Canada Olympic Final Comes With “Hatred” as Americans Pursue First Gold Since 1980

Team USA does not need a motivational speech before the Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game. Brady Tkachuk already gave the short version.

“There’s hatred there,” Tkachuk said, describing the U.S. rivalry with Canada on the eve of the gold medal matchup at the Milan Cortina Games. “I mean, they’ve been the top dog. They’ve been the best for the last bunch of years, and for us, we want to be in that position, be the best. So it’s going to be a game where I think a lot of guys could say, this is the biggest game that they’ve ever played in.”

That quote sums up the moment for the Americans, who are heading into a best on best final against the one team they most want to beat and the one team that has repeatedly blocked them on the biggest stages. The game will decide Olympic gold, but for this roster it also carries the weight of history, recent losses, and a rivalry that has become more physical and more personal.

The United States men have not beaten Canada in a best on best competition since the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, which featured Tkachuk’s father, Keith Tkachuk. That was long before most of the current roster was born. The two sides did meet in last year’s Four Nations event, where Team USA beat Canada in the round robin at Bell Centre in Montreal in a game that included three fights in nine seconds after the opening faceoff involving Brady Tkachuk and his brother Matthew. Canada then won the final 2-1 in overtime.

That loss still sits with the U.S. locker room.

“I mean, we were one shot away last year, and sometimes you got to go through that adversity, that sadness, those tough times for the good times to feel even better,” Brady Tkachuk said. “It was definitely a tough couple days, couple weeks, months after that game. And I know I don’t want to feel like that ever again.”

The Americans have been direct about their expectations for this tournament, repeating “gold or bust” in the months leading into the Olympics. The U.S. men have not won Olympic gold since the 1980 Miracle on Ice team, and this is one of the first true opportunities in years to change that with NHL talent back in the Olympics. NHL players returned after missing the 2018 and 2022 Games.

“It’s been 46 years. So many players that have paved the way for us that haven’t had a chance to win gold for us, that for our dream to be right there,” Tkachuk said. “It’s something that we’re not taking lightly. And I mean, we have an opportunity to achieve a childhood dream.”

The U.S. roster also enters the final with momentum from a broader run of success. In May, the Americans won the men’s world championship for the first time in more than 90 years, and several players from that team made this Olympic roster, including Clayton Keller, Tage Thompson, and Jeremy Swayman.

Canada brings its own firepower into the game, including a power play that has gone 6-for-17. Its top unit has featured Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Macklin Celebrini, Sam Reinhart, and Cale Makar, while Sidney Crosby skated for the second straight day Saturday and was listed as a game time decision because of a lower body injury.

There is also timing that will not be lost on either bench. The men’s final is scheduled for Feb. 22, the same date as the 1980 Olympic gold medal game. Trocheck put it plainly: “I mean, it’s as good as it gets, right? This is what everybody has been waiting for. This is best on best hockey on the world stage, playing for a gold medal. I mean, you can’t really dream it up any better than this.”

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