The U.S. Men’s Hockey Team opened its 2026 Winter Olympics campaign in Milan on Wednesday with a hard-fought game against Latvia - and it didn’t take long for controversy to find the ice.
Midway through the action, what appeared to be a go-ahead goal for Team USA was wiped off the board after forward JT Miller was called for goaltender interference on Latvian netminder Elvis Merzlikins. The call sparked immediate backlash online, with fans and analysts lighting up social media in frustration.
One fan summed it up bluntly: “Are these refs high? That looked like some clean puck to me.”
Others took aim at the broader ruleset, with calls to ban coach’s challenges in international play altogether. And in typical internet fashion, a sarcastic jab like “JT Miller hates America” made the rounds - a tongue-in-cheek reaction to a moment that clearly struck a nerve with U.S. supporters.
For Miller, the moment adds another layer to what’s been a challenging season. The New York Rangers captain has tallied 14 goals and 22 assists through 48 games, good for 36 points - solid numbers, but they haven’t been enough to lift his NHL squad.
The Rangers are currently 22-29, mired in a four-game skid and sitting at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division. It’s been a grind, and now Miller finds himself under the spotlight on the Olympic stage.
Team USA, meanwhile, is chasing a dream that’s eluded them for over four decades. Not since the Miracle on Ice in 1980 - when a scrappy group of college kids shocked the world in Lake Placid - has the U.S. captured Olympic gold in men’s hockey. Since then, they’ve climbed the podium just twice: a silver in Salt Lake City in 2002 and another in Vancouver in 2010, where they fell in an overtime heartbreaker to Canada.
They came up empty in Beijing in 2022, so the hunger is real this time around. And while the opener didn’t go exactly as planned, the tournament is just getting started.
Next up for the Americans is a Saturday matchup against Denmark, followed by a back-to-back test against Germany on Sunday. Then comes the playoff round on February 17 - and that's when the real push begins.
For now, Team USA will look to regroup, shake off the sting of a controversial call, and refocus on the mission ahead. Because if there’s one thing Olympic hockey has taught us time and again, it’s that momentum can swing fast - and heroes can emerge in a heartbeat.