Guerin wants gold for USA: 'We have to make a push to get over this hump'

The United States has been reaching new peaks in hockey success in the men's program in recent years.

The powerhouse has won three of the past five World Junior championships, including back-to-back victories in 2024 and 2025 for the first time in the nation's history.

USA also took home gold at the 2025 World Championship for the first time since 1933, which was four years before USA Hockey was established.

Entering the 2025-26 season, the United States are setting their sights on winning on the biggest international hockey stage: gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy.

"We're just trying to reach our ultimate goal and we're going to do whatever we have to, to do it," said the United States' men's Olympic hockey general manager Bill Guerin on Wednesday from their team's orientation camp in Plymouth, Mich. "We have to make a push to get over this hump."

Despite the nation's recent accomplishments over the past two decades, the United States have not won a best-on-best tournament since taking home a victory at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and haven't won at the Olympics since 1980

Canada has been the biggest thorn in the United States’ side, defeating the Americans in the final at the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics and, most recently, last year's 4 Nations Face-Off.

The 2010 Winter Olympics and 4 Nations losses both came in heartbreaking fashion in the form of overtime winners from Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid, respectively.

Guerin, who was also the general manager of the United States' squad at the 4 Nations, took last year's overtime loss to Canada hard and left him scrambling for answers in order to avoid the same fate this year at the Olympics.

"It was hard. That was emotional. I was [messed] up for a couple of days. It was crazy," said Guerin. "I am proud of the way everybody worked and played and all that stuff. But we missed, and that's where we have to find an edge. That's where we can't sit here and say, 'Hey, great job. It was close.' That's just not good enough. We have to figure a way to get over the hump, and we're looking at a lot of different things."

The United States have a treasure trove of great players in their system, with a core of Toronto Maple Leafs captain  Auston Matthews, Vegas Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel, Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk, Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes, and Boston Bruins defenceman Charlie McAvoy as the first players officially cemented into the roster.

But despite the abundance of talent that still remains on the board, Guerin's intention is the build the best team, not just the 25 best players available.

"It's not a full-time team. You don't get all these practices, so you've got to have guys buying into roles and positions and things like that," said Guerin. "Every guy [at orientation camp] is on their first power play or their first penalty kill or whatever [on their NHL teams], and that's just not the case when it comes to teams like this, so you need the chemistry. Player-wise, we could just pick, but you have to make sure it really fits.

"The [tough] part about it is, you're going to disappoint some people, and that's tough. Those are brutal phone calls to make."

Matthew Tkachuk expected to participate

One of the biggest question marks on the United States' roster is the status of Matthew Tkachuk.

The 6-foot-2 winger has played a lot of hockey over the past three seasons with appearances in 278 NHL games, including 67 playoff games.

Tkachuk helped lead the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Final in each of the last three seasons and was a key force in the team becoming back-to-back championships.

The 27-year-old revealed after last year's Stanley Cup Final that he was playing with a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia injury on the same side.

The Panthers have not announced his status for the start of the regular season and he was also missing from the United States' orientation camp despite being one of the first six players named to the roster.

"He called me and just kind of told me what was going on," said Guerin. "It wouldn't be great for him to get on a plan and fly right now. He didn't have to be here.

"[We're] planning and expecting [to have him for the tournament]. That's just what I have to do. If something changes, we'll change it, but he's on and he's going to be on until he can't."

Tkachuk was limited to 52 regular-season games last season while he was dealing with a lower-body injury he sustained at the 4 Nations. The injury also knocked him out of the final against Canada.

"I think he represents, in a lot of ways, the identity of the team and what we are trying to become as a group," head coach Mike Sullivan said on Wednesday. "He's a fierce competitor. He has incredible care for his teammates. We certainly missed him in the 4 Nations final."