Does Team USA’s hockey gold signal the end of the woke era in American sports?

For the first time in nearly five decades, the U.S. men’s hockey team has an Olympic gold medal proudly around their necks. Last Sunday at the Milano Cortina Winter Games, Team USA defeated rival Canada 2-1 in overtime, with Jack Hughes scoring the golden goal.

The victory has sparked nationwide celebrations and displays of unapologetic patriotism — a stark contrast, BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock says, to the “anti-American sentiment” that’s characterized American sports for the last decade.

“The reason why it feels so big is because it was so patriotic at a time when athletes are being pushed to be anti-American. We’ve been dealing with this at least since 2016 when Colin Kaepernick started taking a knee,” he says.

The left, he argues, has been “trying to define” the Winter Olympics with America and Trump hatred — asking athletes, “How can you compete when Donald Trump is posting mean tweets and when ICE is trying to kick Somalians out of Minnesota?” — but their efforts were put to shame with this U.S. hockey victory.

The heart of this victory is captured in the iconic photo of Jack Hughes smiling with bloodied, chipped teeth, the American flag draped patriotically around his shoulders.

“This is going to be one of the most memorable ... pictures in sports,” Whitlock says, calling Hughes’ grit and determination to keep playing despite broken teeth “a great moment ... in male masculinity.”

While many are calling the victory “Miracle on Ice 2.0,” Whitlock says it’s closer to “the empire striking back.”

He plays a montage of various American Olympic competitors, including freestyle skier Hunter Hess, figure skater Amber Glenn, and alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin, expressing conflicting emotions over competing for the United States.

But despite these “woke white athletes,” Whitlock says, the dominant feeling of this Winter Olympics is one of pride, largely due to the men’s hockey team and its historic victory.

“They wanted to woke up this Winter Olympics, and the empire struck back,” he says.

“This hockey team, Team USA, and the patriotic national anthem and the whole feel-good moment going on in sports — that’s what we’ll remember.”

To hear more, watch the video above.

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