MILAN, Italy – Forty-six years to the day after the Miracle on Ice, Team USA beat Canada 3-2 in a shootout to claim men’s Olympic hockey gold at the 2026 Winter Games. The women’s team also brought home gold with a 4-1 win over Canada. Rinks across America erupted. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, the celebration felt personal.
Local Kids See Heroes in Their Own Colors
At PSM Icehouse in Fort Wayne, practice stopped the moment the final shootout goal went in.
Hockey director Cameron Wirick gathered every kid on the ice to the bench.
“I told them, ‘Look what just happened. Those players on TV wearing USA? They started right where you are right now,'” Wirick said Monday morning, still wearing the same USA Hockey hoodie he had on when the medal ceremony ended.
The building has three sheets of ice running from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. most days. Registration for next season’s youth programs opened at 8 a.m. Monday. By noon, every house-league spot for ages 8-14 was gone.
“One dad called me from the parking lot crying,” Wirick said. “His daughter plays on our girls 12U team. She told him last night she wants to play for Team USA one day. That’s why we do this.”
Hockey’s Boom Meets Its Moment
USA Hockey reported 567,000 registered players last year. The growth in non-traditional markets like Texas, Arizona, and the Carolinas has been steady for a decade. But nothing accelerates interest like gold medals.
Fort Wayne’s Komets, an ECHL team, sold out their next three home games in less than two hours Monday morning. The team announced they will wear special Miracle ’80/’26 jerseys for their March 1 game.
“It’s the biggest day in American hockey since 1980,” Komets general manager Cary Morehouse said. “Our ticket staff said they’ve never seen anything like it.”
Girls Hockey Gets the Biggest Boost
The women’s gold may have an even longer impact.
Team USA captain Hilary Knight scored twice in the final. Her post-game interview, where she thanked her minor hockey coaches in Sun Valley, Idaho, and Hanover, New Hampshire, has already been viewed more than 20 million times.
In Fort Wayne, the Icehouse’s girls program grew from 42 players in 2018 to 218 this season. Wirick expects another 100 sign-ups by spring.
“My 10-year-old watched the third period with me,” said Sarah Miller, whose daughter plays on the 12U team. “She kept saying, ‘Dad, that’s going to be me someday.’ I believe her.”
A Country Remembers What It Felt Like
Across social media, the clips spread fast: kids in California street hockey nets wearing Team USA jerseys, Minnesota pond hockey games pausing for the medal ceremony, Vegas youth teams stopping practice to watch the shootout on phones.
In Boston, 96-year-old Mike Eruzione, captain of the 1980 team, told reporters he cried during the final minute.
“I kept thinking about those college kids in 1980,” Eruzione said. “Now there’s a whole new group of kids who get to feel what we felt.”
Back in Fort Wayne, the Icehouse plans to keep the rink open late all week for public skating. They’re calling it “Gold Medal Week” – free admission for anyone wearing red, white, and blue.
The miracle happened again. This time, everyone got to watch it together.
