On Sunday, Team USA finally won a gold medal in men's ice hockey in the Winter Olympics, for the first time since the Miracle on Ice team in 1980. They defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime in the gold medal match behind a tremendous performance from goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and a game-winning goal from New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes.
Plenty of criticism was hurled head coach Mike Sullivan and General Manager Bill Guerin's way for the way they constructed the roster. Sure, they had superstars like the Hughes brothers, the Tkachuck brothers, Jack Eichel, and Auston Matthews, but it was who they rounded out the roster with. Notably, they were New York Rangers forwards J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck. Suillivan and Guerin chose them to fill the role of the "gritty" players on the bottom six to help with the penalty kill. After winning a gold medal and Miller and Trocheck helping Team USA go a perfect 18-for-18 on the penalty kill, they are all going on a victory lap.
After the game, Sullivan talked about the decision-making process for building Team USA's roster, where he said they not only looked for the best skill players, but also looked into the character and personality of the team. Specifically, "whiskey drinkers."
Mike Sullivan praises decision-making process to build Team USA Olympic roster
“One of the things that Billy Guerin and I talked about from the very beginning was trying to build a team in the true sense of the word,” said Sullivan, h/t The Athletic's Michael Russo. “So we looked at a deep group of American talent. and these decisions were very difficult. They weren’t easy. You look at how this group is constructed, there was a thought process that we had players that could play in all situations. And maybe the most important aspect of it is just the character of the group, the personality of the team.
“The team was built with personality in the locker room. We were loaded with personality up and down our lineup. There are whisky drinkers and milk drinkers, and we got a lot of whisky drinkers on this team.”
By the end of the 2025 calendar, all international teams competing in the Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament had to unveil their finalized rosters. For Team USA, the majority of the roster was a lock, but there was uncertainty as to who would receive the last couple of spots. There were young goal scorers who seemed like good fits for the roster based on their skill alone, and they were Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars and Cole Caufield of the Montreal Canadiens. Robertson had 23 goals and 23 assists from the start of the season until the end of December. Caufield, meanwhile, had 19 goals and 20 assists in that span.
Yet, Sullivan and Guerin decided it was best to include Miller and Trocheck on the roster. It was understandable to see where they were coming from. Miller fills the role of "gritty" player, although his play with the Rangers up to this point had been anything but. But Trocheck, he is one of the best face-off centers in the league, and having him in the lineup made sense. Yet, leaving some legitimate goal scorers at home did leave a sour taste in the mouths of fans who wanted Team USA to build their version of the super team, much like Canada did.
Trocheck had an impassioned postgame quote, saying he heard the noise surrounding his selection to the team, but his play showed he was worthy of making it.
“I’m pretty f*cking proud, I’ll be honest. Yeah, we heard all the talk, that we shouldn’t be here…We were able to come here and we had a job to do, and it was to be good penalty kill guys, faceoff guys, character guys. We took that role and we ran with it," said Trocheck.
Sure, the criticisms of the roster decisions may have been warranted, but now, Sullivan, Trocheck, and Miller can all point to the gold medal as evidence.