USA hockey vs Canada: Everything to know about Olympic gold medal game, rivalry's history

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Everyone got the matchup they wanted for the men's hockey Olympic gold medal game.

Sunday, the 46th anniversary of the "Miracle on Ice," will feature the United States against Canada, which is without a doubt the fiercest international rivalry in all of sports, going for all the marbles.

Unfortunately for Americans, Canada has owned this rivalry since day one. 

This will be the eighth time the United States and Canada have played for Olympic gold, and the only time the Americans have won was back in 1960. They also faced off for gold in 1920, 1924, 1932, 1952, 2002 and 2010. In the best-on-best format, the U.S. is 5-15-1, and three of those victories came in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

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Canada's Brandon Hagel, left, fights with United States' Matthew Tkachuk during the first period of a 4 Nations Face-Off hockey game in Montreal on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025.  (Graham Hughes//The Canadian Press via AP)

The very first meeting between the two countries in a best-on-best format was back in the 1976 Canada Cup, which Team Canada won 4-2. The Americans did not earn their first win over their northern neighbors until 20 years later, after losing seven of their first eight meetings and tying in the other.

The U.S. won that year's World Cup, taking home the best-of-three series against Canada, but since then, it's mostly been Canadian dominance again.

Canada has gone 7-2 against the Americans since 1998, and four of those wins were absolute gut-punches to the United States. Canada took home the 2002 Olympic gold medal in Salt Lake City over the Americans, but more famously, Sidney Crosby's