NHL's return to the Olympics lives up to the hype and sets the stage for 2028 World Cup of Hockey

MILAN (AP) — The long wait for the best hockey players in the world taking the ice in an international tournament lived up to the hype. Four of the seven games in the knockout round at the Milan Cortina Olympics went to overtime, including the U.S beating Canada in a fast-paced, back-and-forth final for the gold medal. The sport earned the spotlight it got in the NHL's return to the Games following a dozen-year drought. "This is as good as it gets," U.S. forward Vincent Trocheck said. "They've got to keep doing it." That's the plan. The league, union and International Ice Hockey Federation have an agreement to participate in 2030 in the French Alps, pending finalizing a deal with the International Olympic Committee. But the next chance for best-on-best country versus country competition is not that far away: The World Cup of Hockey is set for February 2028. The NHL and NHLPA are in lock step on a lot of issues, including the aim of establishing an international calendar with this kind of tournament every other year. The IIHF is on board, too. "The hockey world from NHL/NHLPA standpoint is in a better place when The Players' Association and the league are cooperating and, internationally, when these three organizations are collaborating the hockey world is in a better place," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "And it gives us an opportunity to grow the game in places where we're not as strong as, say, we are in North America and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with (IIHF president Luc Tardif) in furtherance of growing the game. That's the goal, and the more things that we can figure out to do together, the better it will be for everybody." This was the sixth Olympics with NHL players since the precedent started in 1998 in Nagano. Skipping in 2018 and having 2022 get derailed by the pandemic had a lot of people in Milan lamenting the situation — but, in a way, the absence made the experience fonder. "It's been so long since the last one," Canada defenseman Drew Doughty said. "Wish it had never happened this way, but here it is." The U.S. won gold in men's hockey at an NHL Olympics for the first time, ending Canada's run of two in a row and three of the past four. It was the country's first since the 1980 "Miracle on Ice," though the only miraculous part of this championship was how it took American Connor Hellebuyck turning in one of the best hockey goaltending performances in international hockey history. "He was our best player by a mile," Jack Hughes said after scoring the golden goal in overtime, missing a tooth or two from a stick to the face earlier in the game. Hughes' goal came less than two minutes into 3-on-3 OT, which may be the biggest thing from Milan that drew criticism and should change moving forward — at least in the gold-medal game and probably at the NHL and NHLPA-run World Cup. Canada coach Jon Cooper said playing 3 on 3 instead of 5 on 5, which is used to settle NHL playoff games, is "not hockey anymore." "There's a reason overtime and shootouts are in play: It's all TV-driven to end games, so it's not a long time," Cooper said, referring to how games are settled in the league during the regular season. "There's a reason why (3 on 3) is not in the Stanley Cup Final or playoffs." Following the U.S. victory and before the champagne and beer started flowing, players on the winning side had no complaints. "Right now, I think it's great," Brock Nelson said.