Every USA Olympic hockey team, ranked by miracles on ice

18. Lillehammer Olympics, 1994

If you’re a NHL fan, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Peter Laviolette. He’s the current coach of the Nashville Predators and coached the Carolina Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup in 2006.

He was also the last amateur captain in Team USA Olympic hockey history.

Serving as captain for the 1994 Olympics, Laviolette led with his words more than his actions. He contributed one goal in eight games. 1994 had a handful of eventual NHL players such as Brian Rolster, Todd Marchant, Mike Dunham, and Garth Snow.

Unfortunately, the 1994 squad ended up finishing eighth.

Now, eighth might look bad on paper. But the teams ahead of them were Sweden, Canada, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany.

Only Germany is inexcusable. Look at the talent on the other teams. Sweden had Peter Forsberg and Mats Naslund. Slovakia had Zigmund Palffy, Miroslav Satan, and Peter Stastny. Finland had Saku Koivu, Jere Lehtinen, and Sami Kapanen. The other three are established amateur hockey powerhouses.

Team USA played Canada to a tie, but they also played France to a tie. So, it’s tough to get excited about tying Canada when you could not beat France. The only win for Team USA in the tournament was a 7-1 victory over Italy, which should not count because, umm, it’s Italy.

Despite eighth being tied for Team USA’s worst finish in Olympic history, this year wasn’t as bad it looks. It’s still bad. But sometimes, other teams are just better at hockey.