Hockey fans had to wait 12 years to see NHL players in the Winter Olympics again, and the tournament exceeded even the highest of expectations.
The United States defeated Canada for the gold medal in an instant classic Sunday morning. Four of the seven elimination games went to overtime, and Avs star Nathan MacKinnon won a fifth with a goal in the final minute of regulation.
Many of the Avs players who weren’t in Milan had split allegiances throughout the tournament, but especially Sunday with Brock Nelson and the Americans playing MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Devon Toews and the Canadians.
Mackenzie Blackwood was the first alternate for Canada had any of the three goaltenders been unable to play, but he also spent four seasons in New Jersey with Jack Hughes, who scored the golden goal for the Americans in overtime.
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