Team USA dramatically defeated Team Canada 2-1 in the men’s hockey gold medal game at the Olympics. The clincher came less than two minutes into the 3-on-3 overtime on a shot by a trailing Jack Hughes setup by Zack Werenski. As Hughes noted after the game, goalie Connor Hellebuyck put the Americans in the position to win the game. He stopped 41 of 42 shots on goal, including jaw-dropping saves during a Connor McDavid breakaway in the second period and, especially, a forever highlight-reel stop of a Devon Toews shot in the third. The perseverance of Hughes and his teammates, in many ways overmatched by a more talented Canadian team, showcased the American Dream. This marks, after 1960 and 1980, the third gold medal for USA men’s hockey and the first in three tries against the Canadians in the final game. The victory came just days after the U.S. women’s team similarly defeated Canada in a thrilling gold-medal game that went into overtime. Wikipedia listed the position of Jack Hughes as “center” and “owner of Canada” late Sunday morning. His play served as a metaphor for the nation he represented. Hughes did not miss a shift the entire game. His game-winning goal came after he appeared to lose a tooth or teeth (or perhaps false ones) on a high-sticking penalty committed by a Canadian player. The perseverance of Hughes and his teammates, in many ways overmatched by a more talented Canadian team, showcased the American Dream, i.e., that hard work pays off in the end. The boyish Hughes, at 175 pounds, Jewish, and entering the world in the not exactly sticks-and-skates mecca of Orlando, Florida, strikes on one level as an unlikely hockey hero. But in his missing teeth, hockey-player haircut, and pedigree from a hockey family, he fits the part perfectly. “I’m so proud to be an American,” he emotionally explained in a postgame interview on NBC, adding that “tonight was all for the country.” READ MORE from Daniel J. Flynn: Norman Podhoretz, RIP Party Cannibals Calibri, Times New Roman, and the Trump Administration’s Symbolic Battle over Symbols