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MILAN — <\/span>It had to be the U.S. and Canada<\/a> for Olympic gold.<\/p>\n As the 4 Nations Face-Off<\/a> a year ago showed, the North American powerhouses<\/a> are atop the hockey world on the international stage. They proved it at this tournament, with the U.S. going through Sweden<\/a> and Canada getting past Czechia and Finland to make the most-anticipated final possible happen.<\/p>\n A gold medal would still mean everything to the players and coaches involved, but it feels right to have the two border rivals as the last teams standing<\/a> in Milan.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re going to get through to your goal, you\u2019re going to probably have to go through them at some point,” U.S. winger Matthew Tkachuk said. “They\u2019ve had the success in pretty much all the Olympics that NHL players have been going to. Two great teams, and I can only speak for ourselves, we\u2019re just so excited for this opportunity, honored to represent our country and honored to be in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n Canada won the past two Olympics where NHL players participated, in 2010 and 2014<\/a>. The U.S. has not taken home gold in men’s hockey since the 1980 \u201cMiracle on Ice” team.<\/a><\/p>\n That’s ancient history. These countries have more recent history from two epic 4 Nations games, including the first one that opened with three fights in nine seconds. Fighting is not allowed at the Olympics, though Canada’s Tom Wilson didn’t care about the automatic ejection when he dropped the gloves<\/a> against France.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no fighting (but) I expect a hard-fought game, the same as it was the last two times we played them,\u201d U.S. forward J.T. Miller said.<\/p>\n Canada may be shorthanded: Captain Sidney Crosby left<\/a> the quarterfinal game against Czechia with an apparent right knee injury and did not play in the semifinal against Finland, when his teammates rallied from a two-goal deficit to advance to the final.<\/p>\n The U.S. should be at full strength after winger Tage Thompson \u2014 tied for the team lead in goals with three \u2014 left the semifinal against Slovakia after blocking a shot. Thompson is expected to be good to go for what is the biggest game of a lot of players’ careers.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody that\u2019s playing is going to be 50 years old one day, not playing in the NHL anymore and playing thousands of games hopefully, and you\u2019re going to remember start to finish a handful of games,\u201d Tkachuk said. “This is probably one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n AP Winter Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n