Before winning Olympic gold for the United States, Jack Hughes lost some teeth.
In the third period during the men’s hockey final at the Milan Cortina Games on Sunday, he took a stick to the mouth from Canada’s Sam Bennett.
When he scored the overtime goal that delivered the 2-1 win for the Americans’ first gold medal at the Olympics since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” the 24-year-old did it with a bloody mouth.
Hughes’ grin, with a couple fewer teeth than he started out with, quickly went viral, becoming an enduring image of the 2026 Olympic Games. But it wasn’t his first time losing teeth during a game — a rite of passage for professional hockey players everywhere.
“I looked on the ice and saw my teeth,” Hughes, who had one knocked out in an NHL game a few years ago, told the Associated Press. “I was like, ‘Here we go again.’”
In November, the Minnesota Star Tribune wrote about what happens after hockey players lose their teeth. The Wild have a team dentist at every game at St. Paul’s Grand Casino Arena, a standard in the NHL.
Their priority is to ensure players are comfortable and that their dental injuries aren’t affecting their ability to play, Sarah McLellan reported.
While some hockey players repair their teeth right away, others leave their grill as is.
