After their history-making win against Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics, players from the US Men’s hockey team are sharing their faith. Defenseman Jaccob Slavin shared his Olympic experience during his return to his team, the Carolina Hurricanes. After joking with press about whether or not to keep his gold medal on, Slavin turned to more serious matters. “The whole experience as a whole was awesome. First and foremost, you guys know me, you know where I stand with my faith and my purpose and the game of hockey and being able to have my family there to enjoy it with me, we give all the glory to God,” he said. “It was such an amazing time, such a wonderful experience being able to glorify Him on a world stage, and to win gold doing it was so much fun. Whether we won gold, whether we didn’t, we were still going to praise Him and give Him all the glory.” Slavin played for 18 minutes during the championship game, with his defense assisting in Team USA’s overtime win.

It’s an opportunity Slavin doesn’t take for granted given he missed two months of the Hurricanes’ season after an injury. “I just look at it with gratitude, all of it together. Whether it’s the Games, the experience, the traveling, the food in Italy, all of it. Just gratitude and just happy to be able to experience it, and again, just thankful for God and protecting me while I was over there, but also through this season with the injuries that I had at the beginning of the year,” he said. “Just trusting in His timing with it all, and getting to a spot where I was healthy enough to go and play.” He credited his faith for keeping him grounded. “Knowing that whether it’s the Olympic gold-medal game or whether it’s an NHL preseason game, my mindset is still the same of I want to glorify God with the abilities He’s given me and play with the confidence that He instills in me, knowing that I’m not playing for the media, I’m not playing for the approval of fans, of coaches, of players, whatever it is,” he said. “I’m not out there searching for their approval.”

Another Christian on the team is Tage Thompson, who took four shots during the game. Speaking to Sports Spectrum in 2023, he shared about how his faith evolved after he turned 13. “That’s where my faith really started to turn, from just going through the motions and a title of being a Christian to understanding the actual relationship part of walking with Christ and the sacrifice that He made for all of us,” he said. “I think when you take a step back,” Thompson said, “and realize that God’s in control and He has a plan for you and His plan is far better than anything that we could ever imagine (Ephesians 3:20), you just kind of give it over to Him and sit back and enjoy the ride.”