{"id":485279,"date":"2026-02-23T07:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T07:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/485279\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T07:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T07:23:08","slug":"hellebuyck-builds-golden-legacy-in-team-usa-win-brodeur-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/485279\/","title":{"rendered":"Hellebuyck builds golden legacy in Team USA win, Brodeur says"},"content":{"rendered":"

In one game, as dramatic a one as you\u2019ll find, Connor Hellebuyck<\/a> changed his legacy.<\/p>\n

Forever.<\/p>\n

No matter what happens in his career from here on in, the Winnipeg Jets goalie finally won something from a team standpoint, that being the gold medal with Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.<\/p>\n

On this Sunday afternoon in Milan, on the grandest of stages, what a time to turn in the performance of a lifetime.<\/p>\n

It was Jack Hughes<\/a> who scored the overtime winner that gave Team USA the 2-1 victory against Team Canada and its first gold medal since the 1980 Miracle On Ice team.<\/p>\n

It was Hellebuyck who played a huge role in getting them there, making 41 saves including breakaway stops on Connor McDavid<\/a> and Macklin Celebrini<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And, thanks to that performance, when you look at the gold medalist goalies for Team USA in history, there\u2019s three.<\/p>\n

Jack McCartan, 1960.<\/p>\n

Jim Craig, 1980.<\/p>\n

Connor Hellebuyck, 2026.<\/p>\n

Impressive.<\/p>\n

Hellebuyck has won three Vezina Trophies, which go to the goalie voted as the best in the NHL, including each of the past two seasons. But there\u2019s always been a narrative, rightly or wrongly, about his lack of team titles, including criticism that he has been far too inconsistent in moments that matter including the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n

A year ago he played well enough to win in the title game at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, helping Team USA force Team Canada to overtime in a 2-2 game. After watching Team Canada\u2019s Jordan Binnington<\/a> make a handful of game-saving stops, Hellebuyck had no chance on McDavid\u2019s winner that handed Team USA a gutting 3-2 loss.<\/p>\n

Sunday, the roles were switched. This time it was Hellebuyck who triumphed over Binnington, although the Team Canada goalie was very good in defeat.<\/p>\n

I’m probably the best example of how Olympic gold can change the way you are perceived.<\/p>\n

I’d never won the Vezina until I won my first gold medal with Team Canada. I won four of them after that.<\/p>\n

I think people see you a different way when you\u2019re on a big stage like that and you perform. And so there’s no difference for Connor. I know he’s had some success before winning this, but he\u2019d never really won, like, a major tournament or Stanley Cup or whatever.<\/p>\n

Look, I know for a fact that it changes the way people see you. Not that they weren\u2019t seeing him as one of the best goalies in hockey anyway.<\/p>\n

But this puts a stamp on it.<\/p>\n

I do think Canada was the better team all day. Hellebuyck was the difference.<\/p>\n

Another example of how we goalies can be difference-makers when one is in \u201cthe zone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In one game, as dramatic a one as you\u2019ll find, Connor Hellebuyck changed his legacy. Forever. No matter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-485279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}