MILAN (AP) — Connor Hellebuyck couldn’t be doing a lot better halfway by means of the Olympics.
“Is there more than 100%?” he requested with fun after backstopping the U.S. past Germany in the round-robin finale. “I feel good. It’s pretty hot out there. I’m sweating a lot now I have to stand around and do a bunch of (interviews), so I’m going to chill now. I guess I’m at 99% right now as we speak. But, yeah, I feel good out there.”
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The Americans be ok with him. Hellebuyck confirmed in the preliminary spherical why he’s the U.S. starting goaltender in Milan, main the event with a .952 save proportion and matching Canada’s Jordan Binnington for the finest goals-against common at 1.00.
“He’s one of the best goalies in the world,” U.S. forward Matt Boldy said. “He’s confident. He wants to be in the net. He wants to make the saves and to make a big difference. He has the skills to back it up, but I think that attitude and how confident he is in himself and in his game is I think what makes him so great.”
Hellebuyck began two of the three group-play video games and stopped 40 of the 42 pictures he confronted towards Latvia and Germany. Jeremy Swayman was shaky towards Denmark, however bounced again from allowing a goal from nearly center ice to get the win.
Jake Oettinger dressed as soon as as the No. 3 netminder, with coach Mike Sullivan repeatedly saying how powerful a call he and his employees had at the place with three choices nearly any nation would like to have.
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It was at all times Hellebuyck. He was the man at the 4 Nations Face-Off final 12 months and is the reigning NHL MVP and Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s finest goalie
“He’s won a lot of trophies,” winger Jake Guentzel stated. “We feel good with him back there.”
Not tested a whole lot by Latvia, Hellebuyck was there when Leon Draisaitl, Moritz Seider, Tim Stützle and Germany had quality scoring chances. He allowed just one goal to Stützle, and Sullivan called it Hellebuyck’s best game yet.
“You may really feel his confidence from the bench simply watching him make the saves,” Sullivan said. “When he’s at his best, my observation of him is he has economy of motion, and a lot of pucks just hit him, and he makes it look easy the way he squares up to pucks, but his rebound control, he swallowed everything. There was no rebounds for Germany to have an opportunity to create a next play.”
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Hellebuyck figures to be in the crease in the quarterfinals Wednesday night when the U.S. faces the winner of the qualification playoff between Sweden and Latvia. He feels in a good rhythm after playing twice in four days, with a little bit of rest before the next start.
“There was a dialog about how we wished to go about issues, and this simply made the most sense,” Hellebuyck said.
It never made sense for anyone but Hellebuyck to be the U.S. starter, even if his season with the Winnipeg Jets was not going all that well. He has a 2.79 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage after a league-best 2.00 and a .925 in 2024-25.
None of that matters at the Olympics, where his teammates are counting on Hellebuyck being the backbone of what they hope is a deep run.
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“I expect just him being him,” defenseman Zach Werenski said. “We have full belief in him. I prepare with him in the summers. I understand how laborious it’s to attain on him persistently. He’s simply tremendous stable again there. He’s regular, doesn’t quit a lot, doesn’t quit any rebounds and it makes us have a chilled presence in entrance of him.”
The U.S. is rolling into the quarterfinals after outscoring opponents 16-5. For all the scoring expertise up entrance, the staff wants Hellebuyck to be at his finest the remainder of the approach given the problem degree ratcheting up.
That shouldn’t faze Hellebuyck.
“He has so much fun out there, and I think for us seeing that, it just kind of gives us a boost of confidence because he’s just so steady in the net,” captain Auston Matthews stated. “Never really seems like he’s in a panic or anything. He’s just in such good position and that’s why he’s one of the best in the world. That’s a guy that we’ve got a lot of faith in back there.”
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
