“Weren’t Making America Proud”: USA Legend Reveals Hockey Reality Against World Competition

The first 6 players to the preliminary hockey squads have been named. The national camps have started assembling. Which only means the final leg of the buildup to the Winter Olympics has started. We are inching closer to seeing our new heroes take the ice and write a new chapter for their nation that will be remembered forever. That’s why we also take some time to reminisce.

The story that we have here has at its center a very familiar name, an icon who we have seen come up from Washington as a promising young man. And decades later, after more than 1000 games in the NHL, this 2018 Stanley Cup winner decided to call it a time in 2025. Yes, we are talking about the fan-favorite T.J. Oshie, who was sharing some of his international adventures as the guest on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast.

This was the 580th episode produced as Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette, and Keith Yandle got together for more hockey gossip and debates. And of course, there was T.J. Oshie, the hero of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, who talked about the shootout that made him an American legend. But Keith Yandle, who incidentally had been a teammate with Oshie, went back a bit further, to a tournament that was not actually a tale of glory. Rather, it is one so uncharacteristic of them. In fact, it is a story of how even heroes were once far from being at their best.

The tournament Yandle was talking about was the 2010 IIHF Men’s World Championships, which was held in Germany. “Remember, what was it against, like Italy, where you went like five different times? And scored,” went the former US defensemen. And Oshie joined in, “That was a tough tournament for Team USA.” Oh, yes, it was. The USA finished 13th in the tournament. But Yandle remembered it for a different reason. “We had a blast, though.”

Former Capitals winger Oshie remembered the serious bits: “We would have lost in regulation, we would get relegated from the tournament. We were playing for 14th place, I think.” But even the Capitals fan favorite was having the most carefree time as a Team USA member. How so? Well, Yandle started, “Do you remember coming up to me halfway through the game? I think we were playing either like Kazakhstan or France, or someone. And you go, ‘Dude, I know why I’m so bad.’ I’m like, ‘Why?’ You’re like, ‘I have one contact in.’”

(N.B. Relegation would have demoted the U.S. to Division I and hurt its IIHF ranking—Olympic qualification is decided by multi-year IIHF rankings and separate qualifiers, not by an automatic single-game Olympic play-in.)

Yep, true story, which even Oshie couldn’t deny as he kept chuckling and even broke out in laughter as Paul Bissonnette bantered about the incident. “We were a mess, that team,” Yandle said, as Oshie acknowledged that team had a lot of fun. Incidentally, in the final match against Italy, the game went to a shootout. TJ Oshie scored 3 out of 5 to help his team win. This shootout exploit would get him selected for the Olympic team. So, something good came out of it.

But still, it was all for a 13th-place finish and barely avoiding demotion that would have otherwise needed them to compete in a play-in tournament for Olympic qualification. As the former St. Louis Blues winger said, “It was bad. Like, we had a lot of fun. But we didn’t; we weren’t making America proud in that tournament.”

But surely it was a learning curve for Oshie, who was just 24 back then. The lessons he learned helped him become an American hockey legend. And this legacy Matthew Tkachuk wants to make proud.

Hockey legends like TJ Oshie, who motivates Matthew Tkachuk

The 2026 Winter Olympics commence on February 6, which means barely 5 months remain. And still, Matthew Tkachuk is a serious uncertainty for participation. Since the 2025 Stanley Cup Finals wrapped up in June, news had come out of his serious injuries and that he would need surgery. But there has been no progress on that front, meaning his return date from surgery and rehabilitation only keeps getting pushed back.

But the way the Panthers alternate captain has gone about it, it seems he is definitely going to be there in Milan-Cortina come February 6. And he has already addressed the elephant in the room in the most mature and classy way, yet at the same time, not giving too much importance to Canada or their Four Nations win in February. Rather, the Olympics is about continuing a legacy. “I don’t think it’d be as much as revenge than showing how far along USA Hockey has come,” Tkachuk said to ESPN in August.

The USA alternate captain added, “We’ve had some incredible players and national teams that we’ve looked up to our whole lives but that haven’t gotten the job done. So not only would winning [gold] accomplish dreams for us, but hopefully it would bring a lot of satisfaction for those guys that paved the way for us.”

One of them will surely be TJ Oshie, the hero of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. It was his 4-for-6 shootout against Russia that helped the USA beat Russia. And from there, he got the name TJ Sochi. 12 years later, it’s the next generation’s time to step up.