Is winning a gold medal in the Olympics as a hockey player more prestigious than winning the Stanley Cup? Both are two of the most coveted prizes in hockey, but everyone seems so focused on winning a Stanley Cup and how that determines your legacy and how successful a player you are as an NHL superstar.
The Stanley Cup is known as hockey’s greatest prize. Lord Stanley’s Cup, where 16 teams battle in the playoffs every April as the snow starts to melt and the weather starts getting warmer, the NHL ramps up. One of the hardest trophies to win in sports, the Stanley Cup, is any hockey player’s dream, envisioning scoring the overtime winner, hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup.
On the other side of this debate, the modern Olympic Games started in 1896. Held every four years, the Olympic Games are a worldwide event, drawing eyes from all countries throughout the summer and winter games. Specifically, the Winter Olympics, one of the most popular sports, is men’s hockey, which, in this Olympics, changed the game. For the first time since 2014, the NHL allowed its players to represent their respective countries, truly making it a best-on-best tournament.
NHL players dream of going to the Olympics representing their countries, and with how stacked each nation was with NHL players, it made it a real best versus best of the greatest players in the world playing for their nation. Team Canada gathering Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Sidney Crosby all on one team was a scary thought for most teams. Team USA has Captain America, Auston Matthews, along with both pairs of the Hughes and Tkachuk brothers, all on one squad; it doesn’t get bigger than that.
The Olympics bring so much passion, as seen through how the American team celebrates winning the gold medal versus archrivals, Canada. As an NHL player, you have the chance to compete for the Stanley Cup every season. The Winter Olympics, not so much, as it takes place every four years, and considering this was the first time in 12 years since the NHL players were allowed to play in the Olympics, you don’t get many opportunities.
In this year’s Winter Olympics in Milano Cortano, most of Team USA did not win a Stanley Cup in their NHL careers, but after a stunning win in overtime against the Canadians, they can all say they won gold. Take Auston Matthews, for example; the one major thing in his NHL career that he is missing is his Stanley Cup; if he doesn’t win, he can say he won gold.
Both are amazing accomplishments for players, as both take a massive grind, effort, and resilience to win, but to say the Stanley Cup is bigger than a global, once-every-four-year opportunity at Olympic gold at the Olympic Games is simply ignoring the magnitude of representing your country on the world stage.
