Jack Hughes reveals how Team USA women’s Olympic gold win against Canada pushed him to score historic overtime goal

Jack Hughes helped Team USA win a huge Olympic gold medal, but the New Jersey Devils star says the spark came from the U.S. women’s hockey team. Just days before the men’s final, the American women beat Canada in overtime to win gold at the Milan Winter Olympics.

Watching that game live pushed Hughes and his teammates to believe they could do the same.Later, Jack Hughes scored the overtime goal that sealed the gold medal for the U.S. men’s team. His goal also ended a long wait for American men’s hockey, which had not won Olympic gold in 46 years. Speaking to reporters during a media event at Raising Cane’s in Times Square, Hughes explained how emotional it felt to watch the women’s team win.

Their victory gave the men’s team a big boost before their own final game.

Jack Hughes says watching Caroline Harvey and Megan Keller lead Team USA women to Olympic gold pushed the men’s team to finish the job

Jack Hughes said he and his brother Quinn Hughes watched the women’s gold medal game in person. At one point, they even thought about leaving early.“Quinn and I were at that whole game,” Jack Hughes said. “We were going to leave after the second period, but then they were down 1-0.”Instead of leaving, the brothers stayed and watched nervously from the stands.

Hughes admitted that the tension surprised him.“You get nervous for your own game sometimes,” he said. “But we were stressing so big for these girls up in the crowd.”Team USA entered the final with strong momentum. According to Hughes, the American women had already beaten Canada several times before the championship game.“I think they beat the Canadian women’s team seven times in a row leading up to the gold medal game,” he said.

“Sports are weird where you can be better than a team, and you can lose the big one.”That fear made the moment even more intense for everyone watching.“We were so nervous for the girls because we knew they were the better team,” Hughes said.Late in the game, the United States finally tied the score. Then Megan Keller scored in overtime to give the American women their first Olympic gold since 2018.“We were so relieved and so pumped up for them,” Hughes recalled.After celebrating that moment, Hughes said his focus quickly shifted to the men’s final.“We were just worried about our game,” he explained. “We had to lock in the next night.”The players left quickly so they could prepare.“We sprinted out of there. We wanted to get it done with them.”The motivation clearly worked. Jack Hughes later scored the overtime goal that secured Olympic gold for the U.S. men’s team, ending a 46-year drought.The win also created a rare moment in Olympic hockey history. It was the first time the U.S. men’s and women’s teams both won gold medals at the same Winter Games.“For us to do that with them, pretty special and take home two golds,” Hughes said. “That’s elite for USA hockey right there.”