| United States | |
| Badge: | USA hockey logo.gif |
| Badge Size: | 220px |
| Nickname: | Team USA |
| Association: | USA Hockey |
| General Manager: | Brett Peterson |
| Coach: | John Hynes |
| Asst Coach: | Derek Lalonde Ty Hennes Jack Capuano Greg Moore |
| Captain: | Brady Tkachuk |
| Most Points: | Mark Johnson (146) |
| Iihf Code: | USA |
| Iihf Max: | 4 |
| Iihf Max Date: | 2016, 2018, 2021–23 |
| Iihf Min: | 7 |
| Iihf Min Date: | 2003, 2006–07, 2012 |
| First Game: | 29–0 |
| Largest Win: | 31–1 |
| Largest Loss: | 17–2 17–2 |
| World Champ Apps: | 75 |
| World Champ First: | 1920 |
| World Champ Best: | Gold: (1933, 1960) |
| World Champ2 Name: | Canada Cup / World Cup |
| World Champ2 Apps: | 8 |
| World Champ2 First: | 1976 |
| World Champ2 Best: | Winner: (1996) |
| Olympic Apps: | 24 |
| Olympic First: | 1920 |
| Olympic Medals: | Gold: (1960, 1980) Silver: (1920, 1924, 1932, 1952, 1956, 1972, 2002, 2010) Bronze: (1936) |
| Record: | 914–471–86 |
The United States men's national ice hockey team[1] is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with its U18 and U17 development program in Plymouth, Michigan. The team is controlled by USA Hockey, the governing body for organized ice hockey in the United States. The U.S. team is currently ranked 6th in the IIHF World Rankings.[2]
The U.S. won gold medals at the 1960 and the 1980 Olympics and more recently, silver medals at the 2002 and 2010 Olympics. The U.S. also won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, defeating Canada in the finals. The team's most recent medal at the World Championships came with a bronze in 2021. They won the tournament in 1933 and 1960. Unlike other nations, the U.S. does not typically use its best NHL players in the World Championships. Instead, it provides the younger players with an opportunity to gain international experience.[3] Overall, the team has collected eleven Olympic medals (two of them gold), nineteen World Championship medals (two of them gold), and it reached the semi-final round of the Canada Cup/World Cup five times, twice advancing to the finals and winning gold once.[4] The U.S. has never reached a World Championship gold medal game, having lost in the semi-final round twelve times since the IIHF introduced a playoff system in 1992; this includes six semi-finals appearances in ten tournaments from 2013 through 2023, and three consecutive in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
The U.S. is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world and a member of the so-called "Big Six", the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, and Sweden.[5] [6] [7]
The American ice hockey team's greatest success was the "Miracle on Ice" at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, when American college players defeated the heavily favored seasoned professionals from the Soviet Union on the way to a gold medal. Though ice hockey is not a major sport in most areas of the United States, the "Miracle" is often listed as one of the all-time greatest American sporting achievements.[8] [9] The U.S. also won the gold medal in the 1960 Games at Squaw Valley, California, defeating the Soviet Union, Canada, Czechoslovakia, and Sweden along the way. However, since this victory is not as well known as the 1980 win, it has come to be known as the "Forgotten Miracle".[10] [11]
The United States hockey experienced a spike in talent in the 1980s and 1990s, with future NHL stars including Tony Amonte, Chris Chelios, Derian Hatcher, Brett Hull, Pat LaFontaine, John LeClair, Brian Leetch, Mike Modano, Mike Richter, Jeremy Roenick, Kevin Stevens, Keith Tkachuk, and Doug Weight. Although the U.S. finished no higher than fourth in any World or Olympic event from 1981 through 1994 (unlike other teams that used professionals, the U.S. team was limited to amateurs at these tournaments), the Americans reached the finals of the 1991 Canada Cup and won the 1996 World Cup. Six years later, after the International Olympic Committee and NHL arranged to accommodate an Olympic break in the NHL schedule, the U.S. earned a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics with a roster that included NHL stars Adam Deadmarsh, Chris Drury, Brian Rafalski, and Brian Rolston. However, by 2006, many of these NHL players had retired or had declined with age. Though the 2006 Olympic team finished a disappointing 8th, it was more of a transitional team, featuring young NHL players like Rick DiPietro, John-Michael Liles, and Jordan Leopold.
The 2010 U.S. Olympic team was composed of much younger and faster players than teams of previous years, including David Backes, Dustin Brown, Jack Johnson, Patrick Kane, Phil Kessel, Zach Parise, Joe Pavelski, Bobby Ryan, Paul Stastny, and Ryan Suter. The team also had a solid group of veterans that included such stars as goalie Ryan Miller, defenseman Brian Rafalski, and team captain Jamie Langenbrunner. The U.S. team upset team Canada 5–3 in the round-robin phase of the tournament and went into the single elimination phase of the tournament as the number-one seeded team. After beating Finland 6–1, the U.S. advanced to the gold medal game, where they lost in overtime 3–2 to Canada to claim the silver medal. The gold medal game between Canada and the U.S. was watched by an estimated 27.6 million U.S. households. This was the most watched hockey game in America since the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game, including any Stanley Cup Finals or NHL Winter Classic broadcast.[12]
The NHL pulled out of the Olympics for the 2018 competition in a dispute over insurance and the IOC's ambush marketing restrictions, prohibiting the national teams from inviting any player it held under contract. The American team was put at a particular disadvantage, as more than 31% of NHL players are Americans (in comparison, only 4.1% are Russians). As a result, the U.S. had to enter the tournament with a hastily assembled team of free agents, players from European leagues, AHLers on one-way contracts, and college players.[13] The team proved unsuccessful, losing to Slovenia and the Olympic Athletes from Russia in the preliminary round, and being eliminated by the Czechs in the quarterfinals.[14] The OAR team benefited most from NHL's absence and ultimately won the tournament with a team that was composed primarily of SKA Saint Petersburg and HC CSKA Moscow players from the Russia-based KHL and featured ex-NHL all-stars Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk and Vyacheslav Voynov (all SKA).[15] [16]
On March 31, 2021, Stan Bowman was appointed the general manager of the U.S. Olympic men's hockey team for the 2022 Beijing Games.[17] On October 26, 2021, Bowman resigned in response to the results of an independent investigation into allegations of sexual assault committed by a member of the Blackhawks' video coaching staff.[18] The lead investigator stated that Bowman's failure to report the alleged assault had eventually led to the perpetrator committing further acts of sexual abuse.[19]
See main article: List of Olympic medalists in ice hockey.
| Games[20] | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Coach | Captain | Round | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1920 Antwerp | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 2 | Silver medal round | ||||
 1924 Chamonix | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 73 | 6 | Final round | ||||
| 1928 St. Moritz | Did not participate | ||||||||||
 1932 Lake Placid | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 5 | Final round | ||||
| 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 4 | Final round | ||||
| 1948 St. Moritz | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 86 | 33 | Round-robin | 4th, | |||
 1952 Oslo | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 43 | 21 | Round-robin | ||||
 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 16 | Final round | ||||
| 1960 Squaw Valley | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 17 | Final round | ||||
 1964 Innsbruck | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 29 | 33 | Round-robin | 5th | |||
| 1968 Grenoble | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 23 | 28 | Round-robin | 6th | |||
 1972 Sapporo | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 18 | Round-robin | ||||
| 1976 Innsbruck | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 23 | 25 | Round-robin | 5th | |||
| 1980 Lake Placid | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 33 | 15 | Final round | ||||
| 1984 Sarajevo | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 23 | 21 | 7th place game | 7th | |||
 1988 Calgary | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 35 | 31 | 7th place game | 7th | |||
| 1992 Albertville | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 19 | Bronze medal game | 4th | |||
| 1994 Lillehammer | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 28 | 32 | 7th place game | 8th | |||
| 1998 Nagano | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 14 | Quarter-finals | 6th | |||
| 2002 Salt Lake City | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 10 | Gold medal game | ||||
| 2006 Turin | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 17 | Quarter-finals | 8th | |||
| 2010 Vancouver | 6 | 5 | 1 | — | 24 | 9 | Gold medal game | ||||
 2014 Sochi | 6 | 4 | 2 | — | 20 | 12 | Bronze medal game | 4th | |||
 2018 Pyeongchang | 5 | 2 | 3 | — | 11 | 12 | Quarter-finals | 7th | |||
 2022 Beijing | 4 | 3 | 1 | — | 17 | 7 | Quarter-finals | 5th | |||
| 2026 Milan/Cortina | Qualified | ||||||||||
| Opponents | Played | Won | Tied | Lost | Biggest victory | Biggest defeat | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 4:1 | 3:12 | ||
| / | 21 | 10 | 0 | 11 | 16:0 | 1:7 | |
| 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 8:2, 6:0 | 1:6, 0:5 | ||
| / / | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 4:3, 3:2 (x3) | 2:10 | |
| 15 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 20:0 | 1:5 | ||
| Total | 81 | 30 | 8 | 43 | 20:0 | 3:12 |
See main article: List of IIHF World Championship medalists.
Note: Between 1920 and 1968, the Olympic ice hockey tournament was also considered the World Championship for that year.[21]
Note: World War II forced cancellation of all tournaments from 1940 to 1946.
Note: In 1972, a separate tournament was held both for the World Championships and the Winter Olympics for the first time.
Note: No World Championships were held during the Olympic years 1980, 1984, and 1988.
Note: The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[22]
| Games[23] | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Coach | Captain | Round | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 21 | Group stage | 5th | |||
| 1981 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 23 | Semi-finals | 4th | |||
| 1984 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 22 | Semi-finals | 4th | |||
| 1987 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 14 | Group stage | 5th | |||
| 1991 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 29 | 26 | Finals | ||||
| 1996 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 18 | Finals | ||||
| 2004 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 11 | Semi-finals | 4th | |||
| 2016 | 3 | 0 | 3 | — | 5 | 11 | Group stage | 7th |
| Opponents | Played | Won | Tied | Lost | Biggest victory | Biggest defeat | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 5:2 (x2) | 3:8 | ||
| / | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6:2 | 1:3 | |
| 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7:3 | 1:2 | ||
| / / | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 5:2 (x2) | 0:5 | |
| 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 7:1 | 2:9 | ||
| Total | 41 | 18 | 3 | 20 | 7:1 | 2:9 |
See main article: List of United States national ice hockey team rosters. Roster for the 2024 IIHF World Championship.[24] [25] [26]
Head coach: John Hynes
| No. | Pos. | Name | Height | Weight | Birthdate | Team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | G | 1.85m (06.07feet) | 81abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 23 February 2005 | Michigan State Spartans | ||
| 4 | D | – A | 1.93m (06.33feet) | 97abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 3 October 1994 | Chicago Blackhawks | |
| 5 | D | 1.92m (06.3feet) | 86abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 13 January 2000 | Utah Hockey Club | ||
| 6 | F | 1.83m (06feet) | 82abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 17 March 2005 | San Jose Sharks | ||
| 7 | F | – C | 1.93m (06.33feet) | 102abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 16 September 1999 | Ottawa Senators | |
| 8 | D | – A | 1.88m (06.17feet) | 99abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 19 July 1997 | Columbus Blue Jackets | |
| 9 | F | 1.83m (06feet) | 84abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 20 March 2001 | Anaheim Ducks | ||
| 11 | F | 1.83m (06feet) | 89abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 4 December 1997 | San Jose Sharks | ||
| 12 | F | 1.88m (06.17feet) | 91abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 5 April 2001 | Minnesota Wild | ||
| 13 | F | 1.75m (05.74feet) | 74abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 13 August 1993 | Columbus Blue Jackets | ||
| 22 | F | 1.73m (05.68feet) | 79abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 2 January 2001 | Montreal Canadiens | ||
| 23 | F | 1.83m (06feet) | 86abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 9 September 1996 | Tampa Bay Lightning | ||
| 24 | F | 1.83m (06feet) | 86abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 21 January 2005 | Boston College Eagles | ||
| 26 | F | 1.96m (06.43feet) | 98abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 8 May 1992 | Pittsburgh Penguins | ||
| 29 | F | 1.93m (06.33feet) | 96abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 15 October 1991 | New York Islanders | ||
| 34 | G | 1.85m (06.07feet) | 89abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 9 December 1992 | Detroit Red Wings | ||
| 39 | G | 1.83m (06feet) | 92abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 7 January 1996 | Pittsburgh Penguins | ||
| 43 | D | 1.88m (06.17feet) | 89abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 9 September 2003 | New Jersey Devils | ||
| 45 | F | 1.75m (05.74feet) | 77abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 5 October 2004 | Columbus Blue Jackets | ||
| 46 | D | 1.91m (06.27feet) | 94abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 9 December 1987 | Detroit Red Wings | ||
| 51 | D | 1.88m (06.17feet) | 93abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 23 June 2000 | St. Louis Blues | ||
| 57 | F | 1.91m (06.27feet) | 91abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 12 November 2000 | Ottawa Senators | ||
| 72 | D | 1.98m (06.5feet) | 98abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 5 June 2001 | Chicago Blackhawks | ||
| 79 | G | 1.85m (06.07feet) | 83abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 18 December 1993 | Washington Capitals | ||
| 85 | D | 1.88m (06.17feet) | 92abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 8 July 2002 | Ottawa Senators | ||
| 86 | F | 1.83m (06feet) | 84abbr=onNaNabbr=on | 25 February 2000 | Philadelphia Flyers |
See main article: List of IIHF World Championship directorate award winners. The IIHF has given awards for each year's championship tournament to the top goalie, defenseman, and forward (all since 1954), and most valuable player (since 2004). The following American team members have won awards.