USA coach Mike Sullivan draws heavy criticism for decision vs. Canada

Ahead of the gold medal game against Canada, United States head coach Mike Sullivan pointed out the historic potential of Team USA.

“When you think about the last 100-plus years. I think the first year the U.S. participated in hockey, in men’s hockey, in the Olympics was in 1920, and it was actually in the Summer Olympics. There’s been two gold medals. The first medal was in 1960, there were 16 players on the roster, two goalies, four defensemen, 10 forwards. In 1980, there were 20 players on the roster,” he said in a clear message to his team.

“So when you think about it in those terms, there’s 36 American-born hockey players that have gold medals. What an incredible opportunity we have in front of us. And that was the discussion we had.”

Now, after three periods of play and the gold medal game knotted at 1, Sullivan is back in the headlines. But this time it’s for all the wrong reasons.

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Sullivan took heat for giving too much ice time to players not named Jack Hughes, Tage Thompson and Dylan Larkin.

“Lowest ice time among all of USA’s lines. Super weird choice by Sullivan,” New Jersey Devils writer Alex Chauvancy said in reaction to a post that read, “Need more Hughes/Larkin/Thompson in the third period. Trust your guys who have been good the entire tournament,” from NHL reporter Pete Blackburn.