MILAN — The United States men’s hockey team had two goals challenged and overturned through the first 11-plus minutes of Olympic play.
It ultimately didn’t factor into the Americans’ 5-1 win over Latvia Thursday night at Santagiulia Arena, but the start to their first game of the tournament should serve as a learning experience for the way these 2026 Milan Cortina Games will be officiated moving forward.
“They never got deflated,” USA head coach Mike Sullivan said. “The self-talk and then just the talk amongst themselves about just staying with it and keep playing, we’re going to be fine. And, of course, we were. Those types of moments, they can be game-changing moments, and it didn’t deflate the group at all. We just kept playing.”
The first review was for a typical offside call. Brock Nelson was caught over the blue line before J.T. Miller fed Quinn Hughes skating down the middle. In the NHL, that gets called offside 10 out of 10 times.
