NHL News

NHL in the USA: The Olympics Made Hockey a Little Hotter

Jack Hughes’ OT gold, Heated Rivalry, and the Olympics are turning Americans into hockey fans — Canada may frown, but the game wins.

by
Old Prof
March 11, 2026

If you’re Canadian, you might be grumbling a bit, and that’s fair — the gold medal game against Team USA hurt. But here’s the weird thing: for hockey in North America, the U.S. winning that Olympic gold might be exactly what the game needed.

Hockey Is an Easy Sell in Canada. In the USA, Not So Much

Let’s face it: selling hockey in Canada is easy. People know the game, they live the game, and they bleed blue, red, or whatever your jersey is. In the USA, it’s a tougher sell. You’re competing with football, basketball, baseball, soccer… the list goes on.

Then the Milano Cortina Olympics happened. Jack Hughes scored the OT goal to give the Americans their first Olympic gold since Lake Placid 1980. Suddenly, 26 million Americans were watching hockey. That’s huge. And yes, 8.7 million Canadians tuned in, too. Grimaces and all.

But the bigger picture? The NHL got a massive bump in attention and viewership right as the season resumed. The first eight games after the Olympics averaged 603,000 viewers on ABC, ESPN, and TNT — a 23% jump from before the Games.

Can Hockey Become Part of Culture in the USA?

Part of the boost is obvious: people love drama, big moments, and rooting for the underdog on home ice. But part of it is pop culture, too. The hit Canadian TV show Heated Rivalry has Americans glued to screens, too. Each episode pulls in over 10 million viewers in the States.

Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, the stars, have more followers than any NHL player, and they’re generating excitement that spills right into hockey. The league noticed; Commissioner Bettman called it a “force of nature.”

Canadians Should Be Disappointed, But Only in the Short Term

So yeah, Canadians might be bummed, but hockey just got hotter south of the border. That spike in American viewership isn’t going away overnight. It could have a ripple effect for years. More eyeballs, more casual fans, more kids dreaming of skating in the NHL.

The Olympics reminded Americans that hockey is fun, tense, and emotional. And maybe, just maybe, losing to the U.S. for a gold medal isn’t so bad after all. For Canadians and Canada-based teams, there could be a significant trickle-down effect.

For now, a tough loss for Canada. Long-term? Maybe a bigger gain for hockey everywhere.