Team USA is off to a hot start in men’s ice hockey at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, defeating Latvia, 5-1, to open play Thursday night.
While the team is filled with young talent, it was the oldest player on the team, 34-year-old Brock Nelson of the Colorado Avalanche, scoring twice for the U.S. in the second period to lead the squad.
Nelson was patient with his first goal, which broke a 1-1 tie in the second period when New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes found him in front of the net. Nelson dangled his way around Latvian goalie Elvis Merzlikins for the 2-1 lead.
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Then, with less than one minute to play in the second, the U.S. found itself in prime position to blow the doors open when Hughes got the puck again from Matthew Tkachuk.
As Hughes surveyed the ice, Nelson didn’t waste any time with the one-time shot from a nifty pass that found the back of the net for his second goal of the period.
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Earlier in the game, Nelson scored on a tip on a shot at the blue line by Team USA. But Latvia won its second challenge of the first period on goals after referees determined goaltender interference affected the result.
Before Nelson’s goal was called back, Quinn Hughes was denied a goal after the Latvian bench challenged for offsides before the play. The challenge was correct, and the score remained 1-1.
Brady Tkachuk, brother of Matthew, got things going earlier in the game, though, as he potted a nifty wrister over the glove of Merzlikins 5:29 into the game.
Things got interesting, though, when Renars Krastenbergs won a fight for the puck in front of Team USA’s net just over a minute after the Quinn Hughes goal was called back, hitting a backhand past Connor Hellebuyck for the score.
That was Latvia’s only goal, however, and Hellebuyck faced just 18 shots to Team USA’s 38.
Tage Thompson and Auston Matthews were both power-play goalscorers for Team USA, with the former’s coming in the second period to make it a 3-1 game, while the latter potted a point-blank shot on his in the third to seal the victory.
Team USA did what it was supposed to do against Latvia, and it should be heavily favored against the host Italian team Saturday.
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