M Mike Eruzione had not dared to hope that he would still be able to experience this day. Exactly 46 years ago, the then 71-year-old captain of the American team won Olympic gold and created the “Miracle on Ice” with the semifinal victory over the Soviet Union. Now he sat as an honored guest in the stands of the Santa Giulia Arena in Milan and urged his heirs on as they defeated Canada in the overtime of the Olympic final, and nearly half a century later pulled off a second, long-awaited, U.S. hockey miracle.
The grandchildren of the Lake Placid miracle team filled Eruzione with pride. They had fought back to the last drop of blood against the onslaught of the Canadians on their goal and battled for their chance at gold. The image of Milan’s grinning hero, Jack Hughes, who had left three teeth on the ice, became the emblem of this final.
But that was not the only reason Eruzione was proud. Hughes stressed in his post-game interview, panting from the effort and the excitement, how much it meant to him to wear the colors of the United States and to represent his country – “the greatest country on Earth,” as he added. And not a few of his teammates joined in, not least Matthew, the older of the two Tkachuk brothers.
Among the men, there was a shared joke that Trump would probably also have to invite the U.S. women’s hockey team.
Tkachuk has never hidden his admiration for Donald Trump. When he was at the White House after the Stanley Cup victory with the Florida Panthers, he raved about what an unforgettable day it had been for him. “I wake up every day and am grateful to be an American.”
For the American athletes in Milan and Cortina, who in the Trump era have a more complicated relationship with the country they are supposed to represent, Tkachuk and Eruzione have little patience. As for freestyle skier Hunter Hess, who had spoken about his mixed feelings toward the state he was to represent before the Games, Eruzione had only to say: “Then he should stay at home.”
Eruzione, like Tkachuk, never hid his political leanings. In the 1980s, he and his teammates readily allowed themselves to be used as cheerleaders for Reagan’s America. And when Trump called them in 2020 to invite them to his campaign events, the now older men did not hesitate for a moment.
Their grandchildren now seem ready to willingly step into their footsteps. As amiable as they presented themselves on the ice with their combative, fearless hockey, they behaved just as repulsively afterward. Videos circulated on social media that evening showing them in the locker room downing beers in one go with FBI Director Kash Patel and shouting along to the MAGA anthem “Courtesy of the Red White and Blue” by Toby Keith.
Shortly after, Patel arranged a line to Washington and connected the president. Patel, like him, enjoyed playing the role of one of the guys. And the players joined in merrily. All-male banter had them laughing together that Trump would probably have to invite the U.S. women’s hockey team as well, or else he’d get into trouble. And at Trump’s offer to fly them with a military aircraft to the “State of the Union” address in Congress, they enthusiastically said yes. One of the voices in the background, in the roar of victory, asked Trump to please close the border to Canada.
The U.S. women’s hockey team, who in Milan had enthusiastically cheered on their male colleagues, did not find that funny at all and ruled out a visit to Washington before any invitation was even officially extended.
