Fansided

Every USA Olympic hockey team, ranked by miracles on ice

By Jeremy Lambert

18 Feb 2002: Team USA celebrates their 7-1 victory over Belarus during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games at the E Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr/Getty Images
18 Feb 2002: Team USA celebrates their 7-1 victory over Belarus during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games at the E Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr/Getty Images /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 22
Next

Everybody knows about the 1980 Miracle On Ice team. But was it the best USA Hockey team in Olympic history? We count down each edition.

For the first time since 1994, men’s hockey at the Winter Olympics will feature no NHL players. The lack of NHL involvement has turned another Canada gold into a wide-open field. For the first time in years, it truly feels like Team USA has a real shot at gold.

It’s been 38 years and nine Winter Olympics since USA men’s hockey was crowned the top nation in the sports. We all know what happened that year. We’ve all seen Miracle or have heard “Do you believe in miracles?” referenced every time there is a major upset in sports.

While 1980 was the peak of Team USA hockey in the Olympics, there have been some rough moments along the way. In 22 years at the Olympics, Team USA has medaled 11 times. Despite having a first-grade math education, even I know that’s a 50 percent failure-to-medal rate.

We all remember the 1980 squad. They provided hockey fans with the greatest moment in Team USA history. They gave hope to all the underdogs across the world and showed that miracles can happen. Water can become wine. All you need is a little food coloring and the willingness to act a little buzzed.

But what about the non-1980 squad? The teams that didn’t perform a miracle on ice. Those lesser-known squads still took the ice and tried their hardest. And they deserve a little bit of credit. Most of them, anyway. Except you, 2006 team. You are an embarrassment to Team USA hockey.

22. Torino Olympics, 2006

Did I mention that this squad is an embarrassment to Team USA hockey?

This was absolute rock bottom for Team USA hockey in the Olympics. Nothing worked for Team USA in Italy. At least the food was good.

Stocked with NHL veterans like Mike Modano, Chris Drury, Doug Weight, Brian Rafalski, and more, this team should have been competing for a medal. The goaltending was questionable with Rick DiPietro, but otherwise, this was a competitive team.

They finished eighth. Craig Conroy led them in scoring. Craig Freakin’ Conroy. Keith Tkachuk finished without a point in six games.

On a year when Team Canada was down, finishing seventh, Team USA failed to rally. Instead, underdog countries Slovakia and Switzerland ended up finishing higher than two perennial favorites.

The tournament got off to a rough start with Team USA tying Latvia, the country that ended up finishing last. After beating Kazakhstan, they lost four straight, all by one goal. Team USA simply could not come up with the clutch save or clutch goal that would have improved their standing or kept them in the tournament.

Taking so many veterans ended up being the Achilles heel for Team USA. They did not have the speed to keep up with younger countries on the bigger ice. It would be the last time they’d make that mistake. Well, until the World Championships last season.

You can chalk this up to a rebuilding year for Team USA. You can also call it the single biggest failure in American hockey history.

Home/Winter Olympics