Can Olympic success help grow United States hockey? The Florida Panthers hope so
It has been more than a week since the United States completed its hockey gold-medal sweep at the 2026 Winter Olympics — with both the men’s and women’s teams defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime — and the excitement is still palpable.
Jack and Quinn Hughes, Hilary Knight and Megan Keller appeared alongside actor Connor Storrie, one of the stars of the hockey show “Heated Rivalry,” during Storrie’s “Saturday Night Live” monologue. Jack Hughes and Keller scored the overtime winners for their respective teams in Milan to give each team its third Olympic gold — the women also won in 2018 and 1998, the men in 1980 and 1960.
The Hughes brothers and Knight, who was the captain of the women’s team, then made an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Monday night to continue the national celebration tour.
“You get there and you’re just meeting people, and you’re really just pumped to be a part of it and get it going,” Hughes said, according to NHL.com. “The buzz there is unbelievable.”
The hope is that the buzz keeps going.
The United States could be at an inflection point with a sport that has been primarily dominated by its neighbors to the north. More Americans are playing the sport than ever and getting to the highest level — with 27.7% of NHL players on Opening Night rosters this season coming from the United States, behind only 40.7% from Canada (by far the country’s lowest total that once was more than 75%).
And all eyes were on both teams as they won gold. The women’s game on Feb. 19 (a Thursday afternoon) averaging 5.3 million viewers on USA Network and Peacock and peaking at 7.7 million for the most-watched women’s hockey game on record. The men’s game on Feb. 22 (a Sunday morning) had an average audience of 18.6 million on NBC and Peacock, peaking at 26 million for NBC Sports’ second-most watched hockey game ever behind only the gold-medal game from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Now, the goal is to build on that — and members of the Florida Panthers think it can be done.
“Our sport just got the biggest stage in the world of sport, and that’s wonderful, and we need to celebrate it,” said Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito, who served as an assistant general manager for the United States men’s team at the Olympics. “We need to grow our game. We need to let other people have the opportunity to become fans. We need excitement.”
They couldn’t have asked for a better launching point than what played out on the ice in Milan.
The women’s team was dominant, outscoring opponents 33-2 during their seven-game run. They scored at least five goals on every opponent leading into the gold-medal game before needing to rally from a one-goal deficit in the championship.
The men’s team also ran the table, outscoring opponents 26-9 across six games, albeit needing a pair of overtime wins against Sweden in the quarterfinals and Canada for the gold medal to break through.
“Throughout the whole country — not only feeling the support here in South Florida, which the support has been just absolutely incredible — but the text and videos and the watch parties and everywhere from the east to the west coast, we didn’t realize how big of an impact this would have on the country and on us as players,” said star Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk, who had six assists in the Olympics for the United States. “It’s just a bonus win.”
The men’s team received a hero’s welcome after returning from Italy. They took a bus tour of South Beach, had dinner in Miami’s Design District and partied at Miami nightclub E11even. Most members of the team then went to the White House to visit President Donald Trump and attend the State of the Union, although that came with some backlash because Trump made a joke at the expense of the women’s team when calling into the men’s team’s celebration following the gold-medal game.
“We need celebrity, right?” Zito said. “So now hockey players in South Florida, they’re pretty much A-listers. ... This is a big deal, and it’s big for USA Hockey. It’s big for kids. It’s big for girls hockey. It’s big for the Panthers.”
And the Panthers plan to capitalize on the national teams’ successes, just like they have with their own personal success as of late. The Panthers saw a boost in hockey interest locally since going to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, including winning the championship each of the past two seasons.
The Panthers already have a slew of youth and adult hockey programs. They expanded off the ice last year to include a ball hockey program for kids ages 5-14. This year, the Panthers in conjunction with the NHL, NHLPA and Lucky Pucks now have a Girls and Women Learn To Play program.
Zito last week hinted that more opportunities for girls and women’s hockey will be announced “in short order.”
“The opportunities that presents in life, our sport, is unique,” Zito said, “and so much fun. So wonderful.”
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