I’m not sure I thought I’d ever see the day when an American hockey player who has only worked in Vancouver and St. Paul would be getting covered by E! News, or serve as the lure in catfishing attempts. Quinn Hughes, mainstream celebrity? What a world. Being the subject of memes that allege he’s haunted by the ghost of a Victorian child, and acknowledging said meme, helps. Being the best defenseman in the world doesn’t hurt. (Cale Makar arguers: I’m not speaking to you until after Sunday.) The legend of Quinn Hughes will only grow after he saved Team USA’s bacon Wednesday with a heroic overtime period and winning goal to squeeze past Sweden in the men’s Olympic quarterfinals.
No ghosts, but the specter of going home early was certainly looming, after a late 6-on-5 goal from Mika Zibanejad tied the game and sent things to sudden death. Sweden, as the only medal contender to slip up in group play, had unexpectedly sunk to a seed that provided a more difficult quarterfinal opponent than expected for both sides, and they played like podium contenders—limiting U.S. chances and requiring Connor Hellebuyck to keep up with Jacob Markstrom. The U.S. carried the lion’s share of play, but as they struggled to get high-danger chances, it was hard not to think about the goalscorers left at home in favor of face-off specialists and penalty-kill merchants.
Three-on-three is a different beast and anyone’s game. “That’s as nervous as I’ve been ever in a hockey game,” said Dylan Larkin, who redirected a Jack Hughes puck for the U.S.’s first goal. While it may not exactly decide the best team, at least Team USA had a plan for 3-on-3. “Give it to Quinn,” said Matt Boldy, who gave it to Quinn for the assist on the winner. “That is usually the game plan when he is out there.”
As they say, availability is the best ability, and nearly as often as not, Hughes is on the ice.. Hughes is playing stately amounts of minutes in this tournament: 27:31 against Sweden, leading all skaters, including 2:03 of the 3:37 overtime. Prior to his goal, he waved off the bench to skate a double shift; he must have been absolutely exhausted by the time he sniped Markstrom. But if the plan is “give it to Quinn,” he’s making sure he’s there to take it.
Connoisseurs of Hughes’s 1,000-yard stare might have been hoping for a display of emotion from the lad after the biggest goal of his life. They got … well, not quite a smile. Instead, Hughes turned to the crowd, a slightly incredulous look on his face, and then smashed his stick into the glass before getting a bearhug from Matthew Tkachuk and subsequently being swallowed up by his jubilant teammates. That’s about as demonstrative as we’re going to get from Hughes. Asked in the tunnel what he was feeling, the first words out of his mouth were, “Just relief.” Relief is an emotion! We’re counting it!
On to Slovakia, the semifinal upstarts ranked ninth in the world with just six NHLers in their lineup. If things go as they should, we’re in for a U.S.-Canada gold medal match, a long-awaited rematch from the 4 Nations final that saw Canada squeak by in overtime. But Team USA didn’t have something for that tournament, something kind of important. It didn’t have Quinn Hughes, and now it does.
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