{"id":492856,"date":"2026-02-22T22:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T22:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/492856\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T22:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T22:31:09","slug":"devils-teammates-thrilled-watching-jack-hughes-clinch-gold-medal-for-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/492856\/","title":{"rendered":"Devils teammates thrilled watching Jack Hughes clinch gold medal for U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the first time Team USA won gold at the Olympics since the \u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d in 1980.<\/p>\n

“We were very excited for Jack … what an amazing moment,” said Devils forward Jesper Bratt<\/a>, who represented Sweden at the Olympics. “I think every player growing up has sometime dreamed about scoring an OT goal in the Olympics, and now Jack has done that. It was really special to watch. I can’t imagine the feeling he’s having right now … Wow, what a moment.”<\/p>\n

Brett Pesce<\/a>, born in Tarrytown, New York, was sitting beside Hughes when Jack scored the winner.<\/p>\n

“We gave each other a big hug, and it was special to see his reaction of his brother scoring,” the Devils defenseman said. “We were all glued to the screen … our hearts were pumping. We kept talking about it like we were out there. It was crazy. But to see \u2018Jacko\u2019 do that, it’s special and I couldn’t be happier for him. He’s a USA hockey legend for life now, right?<\/p>\n

“Everyone’s going to remember that, have videos of his goal. He works so hard and cares so much about the game of hockey, and USA Hockey. It’s just awesome for that family and I’m just excited to congratulate him in person.”<\/p>\n

The moment wasn’t lost on Canada-born, New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe.<\/p>\n

“An exceptional goal, exceptional moment,” Keefe said. “So happy for Jack. Once you get to the 3-on-3 you know that it’s going to be tailor-made for him to have a big moment like that. As a Canadian, if you’re going to lose, that’s how you want it to be, so really happy for Jack, his family and to be here with Luke as well … all that’s happening is pretty great.”<\/p>\n

Jack even lost a few teeth after taking a high stick to the mouth from Canada’s Sam Bennett<\/a> late in the third period.<\/p>\n

The photo of him with the American flag draped over his shoulder and smiling minus a few top teeth during the on-ice celebration that has been circulating over social media is an image that will last a lifetime.<\/p>\n

“I couldn’t be more proud of my brothers and my family,” Luke Hughes said. “I know they’re going to be celebrating. I just got off the phone with Quinn and Jack, and they’re pretty fired up. Jack’s definitely not as pretty, or as good-looking as he was before, but I think he’ll take that every day of the week.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the first time Team USA won gold at the Olympics since the \u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d in 1980.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-492856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}