Team USA Hockey Hero, Quinn Hughes, Calls America “The Greatest Country In The World” After Overtime Victory

Quinn Hughes was quite literally an American hero yesterday. Hopefully you’ve been keeping up with Team USA hockey in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina. There have been some absolutely electric contests thus far, and yesterday’s quarterfinal matchup against Sweden was no exception. The American team controlled the low-scoring game for much of the three periods… but a late goal by Sweden evened up the contest 1 to 1, and the quarterfinal went into overtime.

That’s when Quinn Hughes, a defenseman who plays for the Minnesota Wild in the NHL, did this:

What a moment.

The place went nuts when Hughes slap shot snuck by Sweden’s goalie and in for the win, and Team USA rejoiced knowing that their gold medal dream is still alive. After the game, the American hockey hero was asked about all of the chants by American fans in attendance and the Stars and Stripes flying throughout the crowd, and what that meant to him.

Here’s what Hughes had to say:

“It’s special. I mean, I love the U.S.. It’s the greatest country in the world. I’m happy to represent it here with these guys. It’s really special.”

USA! USA! USA!

That’s a far stretch from how U.S. halfpipe skier, Hunter Hess, described how it felt to compete for the United States of America. Before the Olympics really got going, Hess made headlines by saying this about sporting the red, white and blue during the Winter Olympics:

“It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think. It’s a little hard. There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren’t. I think for me, it’s more I’m representing my friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the U.S. – if it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it. Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.”

OOF…

After a lot of backlash, and countless questions about whether or not he was happy to be representing America, Hess walked that quote back in a post saying that he loved representing his country:

“I love my country. There is so much that is great about America, but there are always things that could be better.”

And of course he hasn’t been alone… figure skaters, curlers, skiers and snowboarders have all been critical of the country they’re representing.

Meanwhile, the United States hockey team is too busy a) winning and b) being as patriotic as possible. Why do I say that? Well, what’s more patriotic than having “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd as your goal song?

Team USA first elected to use the rock anthem anytime the puck hit the back of the net in the 2025 World Juniors tournament, and they had plenty of success with it (they won gold). They came up just short using it during the 4 Nations Face-Off, but if Team USA can bring home the gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics, I’d say America has no choice but to make the rock ballad their official goal song across all levels… forever.

Hopefully we hear a lot more “Free Bird” when the men’s hockey team takes on Slovakia in the semifinal game tomorrow (and shoutout to Team USA’s women’s hockey team for playing Canada with gold on the line today).

The post Team USA Hockey Hero, Quinn Hughes, Calls America “The Greatest Country In The World” After Overtime Victory first appeared on Whiskey Riff.