‘Golden Boy’ Demands NHL HOF Give Him The Priceless Olympics Puck

The player who won historic gold last month for USA Men’s Hockey with a stunning overtime goal wants the puck.

But NHL HOF officials say it’s theirs to protect and preserve.

NJ Devils player Jack Hughes beat Team Canada with a shot at 1:41 of overtime to give the U.S. men their first Olympic gold since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980.

The Hockey Hall of Fame began displaying both Hughes’ overtime “golden goal” puck and that of Megan Keller, whose overtime goal delivered Olympic gold to the U.S. women’s hockey team in Milan.

“I don’t see why Megan Keller or I shouldn’t have those pucks,” Hughes tells ESPN.

Hughes said it hadn’t occurred to him that that puck wasn’t in his possession until an interview on TNT on Feb. 26, when former NHL player and coach Tony Granato asked the whereabouts of the “golden goal” puck.

“I honestly don’t know where that puck went. I know who doesn’t have it is me. I sure as hell don’t have it,” Hughes said at the time.

After that interview, there was some brief concern around the hockey world that the puck had gone missing.

Then a spokesperson for the International Ice Hockey Federation told Sportico on Feb. 27 that the puck was immediately secured and “designated for archival preservation with the HHOF to ensure its long-term safekeeping and historical recognition.”

But Hughes wants that piece of history for himself and his family, saying he would give his “golden goal” puck to his father.

When he first heard that NHL was keeping the puck he said to ESPN, “that’s bulls— that the Hockey Hall of Fame has it, in my opinion. Why would they have that puck?”