Hughes brothers came up clutch for United States

Redemption. There may be no more fitting word to describe the United States‘ 2-1 overtime victory over Canada on Sunday in the gold medal game of the men’s hockey tournament at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. Redemption for the United States as a whole, of course, after falling to Canada in last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off final, but also for Quinn and Jack Hughes, the Team U.S.A. brothers who probably most wanted to put that 4 Nations loss behind them.

Quinn was forced to miss the 4 Nations Face-Off due to injury, watching as his country fell just short without him. Jack played in the tournament, but became a subject of criticism after producing just an assist in four games. In these Olympics, however, the Hughes brothers showed why they are world-class players. Quinn had eight points in six games, and was named as the tournament’s best defenseman. Jack had seven points in six games, and scored Sunday’s overtime winner.

On Daily Faceoff’s Post Game Show, Jeff Marek, Tyler Yaremchuk, Jonny Lazarus, and Carter Hutton discussed how important the Hughes brothers were to the United States.

Jeff Marek: All of the promotion and all of the hype was around the Tkachuk brothers, but at the end of all of it, it’s the Hughes boys. You mentioned that Quinn Hughes almost scores that goal and Jordan Binnington gets his glove on it, and then it’s Jack Hughes at the end. I know we place a lot of significance on how the Tkachuk’s play, but Jonny, as the American here, you’re thoughts on the Hughes family.

Jonny Lazarus: I did the Bucci overtime challenge, and I picked Jack Hughes. Quinn had the one against Sweden which helped U.S.A. get to the semifinal game, and Jack has the one that ends it. It’s the skill that takes over. You needed a guy like Jack Hughes to step up against the Canada skill. You needed Quinn Hughes to step up against Sweden‘s skill. While the Tkachuks help bring the emotion out in these games, it’s the skill of that takes over, and the guys that have the most talent in the world to take over, and Jack has that.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Sunday’s episode here…