USA's gold-medal hockey game averages 26M viewers

Field Level Media
25 Feb 2026, 21:49 GMT+10

(Photo credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)

The United States' gold-medal victory against Canada on Sunday at the Milano Cortina Olympics averaged 26 million viewers in the U.S. on NBC and Peacock.

The 2-1 overtime win gave the Americans their first gold medal in men's ice hockey since the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The North American audience when Jack Hughes scored the winning goal was nearly 35 million, including 8.7 million in Canada, per the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The contest, which began at 8:15 a.m. ET, was the most-watched sporting event on record in the U.S. with a start time before 9 a.m. ET, according to the Nielsen data.

It also was the second most-watched hockey game in NBC history, trailing Canada's overtime win against the U.S. in the gold-medal game at the 2010 Vancouver Games (3:15 p.m. ET start time).

Overall, the Olympic Games in Italy averaged 23.5 million viewers in the U.S., a 96% increase over Beijing in 2022 and the most-watched Winter Olympics since 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

--Field Level Media

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Calgary Monitor.

More Information

North America

Section

Chinese and Indian tourists offset US slowdown in Europe

BRUSSELS, Belgium: Europe is increasingly looking to Chinese and Indian travellers to sustain tourism growth, as signs emerge of a...

USA's gold-medal hockey game averages 26M viewers

(Photo credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images) The United States' gold-medal victory against Canada on Sunday at the Milano Cortina Olympics...

Pens' Sidney Crosby out at least 4 weeks with Olympic injury

(Photo credit: Philip G. Pavely-Imagn Images) Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is expected to miss a minimum of four weeks...

Action must be taken against Delhi Police for alleged warrantless raid at Himachal Sadan: Congress's Kuldeep Rathore

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], February 25 (ANI): The Congress MLA and AICC national spokesperson Kuldeep Singh Rathore on Wednesday...

Xinhua Headlines: China's governance contributes wisdom, strength to a brighter future of humanity

* On Tuesday, a seminar on global governance and the debut of the English edition of the first volume of China's Governance Under Xi...

"India must be bold and put deal on hold": Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on US trade pact

New Delhi [India], February 25 (ANI): Congress MP Jairam Ramesh launched an attack on the India-US trade deal yet again on Wednesday,...

Canada

Section