OTTAWA — Dylan Larkin almost has his voice back after days of celebrating Team USA’s Olympic gold medal victory over Canada this past weekend.
The United States’ 2-1 overtime thriller was the biggest victory of Larkin’s career, and the Americans’ first gold medal in men’s hockey since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team. Larkin was on the ice for the winning goal, scored by Jack Hughes, and the Red Wings’ captain reflected on his Olympic experience Thursday morning.
“Just to keep thinking back that we did it,” Larkin said. “And that feeling of when Jack scored, throwing our gloves in the air, not knowing what to do, just screaming, yelling for 20 minutes on the ice, celebrating with guys — it was memories I’ll remember forever.”
Among those memories: “How just crazy, stressful and intense” the gold medal game was, the play of U.S. goaltender Connor Hellebuyck — who Larkin said “stole the game” for the U.S. — Charlie McAvoy’s game-saving defensive play in the crease to keep a puck out of the net, and “how much fun we had after.”
“It was similar to the 4 Nations final, where it’s just the skill and the speed and the whirlwind of everything going on,” Larkin said. “And I think even moreso in an Olympic final.”
Larkin was a crucial piece of the Team USA lineup, centering the third line, killing penalties and scoring the opening goal in both the Americans’ quarterfinal win over Sweden and semifinal victory over Slovakia. It was a reprise of his breakout performance of last year’s 4 Nations tournament, when the wider hockey world took more notice of the Red Wings’ captain.
And like that 4 Nations tournament, it all came down to a matchup between the United States and Canada, who won the 4 Nations and had also defeated the U.S. in the 2010 and 2002 Olympic gold medal games.
“I couldn’t sleep the night before the game,” Larkin said. “I was up thinking about, ‘if we win, if we win,’ you know, ‘I hope we win,’ and I think before I went to bed, I was finally (like) ‘let’s just win this.’ Similar to going out for the overtime, it was just like, ‘someone end this, come on.’ A 20-minute intermission before 3-on-3 overtime is like, probably the most stressed I’ve ever been in a locker room. … The Tkachuks are just talking us into winning it, you know? And keeping it light to be honest with you.”
Hughes’ goal delivered the victory, setting off a wild celebration that stretched into a victory party in Miami when the team returned to the United States, and ultimately included a visit to the White House in Washington D.C. — with much of Team USA staying for the State of the Union address.
However, the aftermath of the gold medal game became the subject of criticism in the days following the Olympic final, after Team USA GM Bill Guerin invited FBI director Kash Patel into the locker room for the celebration. Patel was seen on social media videos chugging beer and partying with the team, as well as holding up a phone to allow President Donald Trump to congratulate the U.S. men’s team and invite them to Washington, while joking, “we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” and saying if he didn’t, he’d “probably be impeached.”
Team USA players have faced criticism over their reaction to the joke, which was seen as diminishing the women’s team’s accomplishment, and Larkin expressed regret over that on Thursday.
“I think it’s a little bit unfortunate how it’s taken the shine away from, one, the greatness of the women’s team, and what we did — first (U.S. men’s) team to win it in 46 years,” Larkin said. “I think all hockey fans, especially American hockey fans, know that the Canada (rivalry), those games that have not gone our way, and the fact that it went our way, in the locker room we were just, (it was) such a whirlwind, and we have a guy in there, and (he) said the president’s on the phone.
“There’s a little bit of regret, but obviously we were in a tough position, and I think the women’s team knows that we supported them and we were cheering passionately for them to get the job done, and they did it in exciting fashion as well.”
He specifically praised USA women’s goalie Aerin Frankel, who Larkin called “dominant” after she finished the Olympics with a .980 save percentage after allowing only two total goals in five games across the tournament, and said “there’s so many great stories there.”
Now back with the Red Wings, Larkin said it has been a “great experience coming home, and feeling the reception from fans and people in the streets stopping us.”
Even beyond that, the Red Wings are hoping Larkin’s experience playing in a tournament — and game — of that magnitude can help them down the home stretch, which begins Thursday night against the Ottawa Senators.
These games won’t have Olympic gold medals on the line, but they’ll be high stakes in Detroit nonetheless, as the Red Wings look to snap a nine-year playoff drought that stretches back to Larkin’s rookie season of 2015-16. They enter Thursday night’s game in an Eastern Conference wild-card position, five points ahead of the ninth-place Washington Capitals, with two games in hand, and nine points up on the Senators — who are led by Brady Tkachuk, one of Larkin’s Team USA teammates.
“I had such a joy playing with him and his brother (Matthew), and all the guys, but those two guys are just characters, and I’ll be smiling at him, but (these are) two big points for both of our teams,” Larkin said. “And I think the way he plays, and the way he’s played against us, especially, we’ve got to be ready to move the puck around him and make him skate.”