Team USA defeats Team Canada in the gold medal game in overtime. If I was a script writer, that’s how the men’s Olympic hockey tournament would end.

I’m tapping into my pro wrestling fandom to “book” the Olympics for maximum benefit for the interest of the game in North America. I have thought about this at length, and this is the best possible outcome. Yes, I’m saying this as a Canadian. This is almost as devious as Tate McRae endorsing Team USA.

Here is my reasoning. Fans are still talking about the Miracle on Ice from the 1980 Games — there’s even a new documentary about it. It was a massive moment in American sports hockey, one of the biggest. That will never change. But we are long overdue for another signature moment of USA hockey success.

Even the captain of that 1980 team, Mike Eruzione, told us on “The Drop” that he’s sick of talking about it and wants to see another generation get that same glory:

If Team USA were to win gold in Milan, a similar explosion of interest in hockey would follow. We’re already seeing an increase this season, with viewership up and the show “Heated Rivalry” bringing new fans into the mix. Team USA earning gold would be in the vicinity of a “1980” moment — a rallying, unifying moment where the country celebrates the U.S. being tops in the world.

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I’ve had Macklin Celebrini in the third spot for much of the season, but Nikita Kucherov has established a 10-point gap between him and Mack to take over third place.

It’s time to place Kuch as a finalist on this list. With 13 points in his last five games, he now has 91 total on the season.

He has simply been obliterating the competition lately and could easily pass both McDavid and MacKinnon once the NHL season restarts on Feb. 25.

Social media post of the weekend

The Artemi Panarin trade news broke courtesy of ESPN’s Emily Kaplan … and Adam Schefter. An unlikely dynamic duo that joined forces like Shaq and Kobe to deliver one of the biggest pieces of trade news that we will get this season!

Stick taps

“Star Wars” has a brand-new hockey reference.

Before we get to that, first let me shout out to Rancho Obi-Wan, the largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia in the entire world — Guinness World Record-certified and everything!

There is a sports section among the 100,000 items, and one of the things displayed is a Colorado Avalanche Star Wars Night hockey puck. What’s noteworthy about this puck is that it’s from a game from the 2014-2015 season, which is one of the very first to have been put on in the NHL.

Now about that hockey reference in the “Star Wars” universe. Mike Chen, who covered hockey a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away — i.e. Fox Sports, Versus and SB Nation — has released his latest Star Wars novel “Star Wars Outlaws: Low Red Moon,” a story featuring characters from the popular “Star Wars Outlaws” video game, released on Feb. 3.

“I had actually started a few years prior contributing to a Sharks site called The Feeder (which is still up as LetsGoSharks.com) and freelancing for some of the earliest online sports outlets,” Chen told ESPN. “Everyone in that space just kind of got to know each other and eventually bigger outlets would pick us up. So I wound up doing regular coverage for Fox Sports and Versus/Comcast while managing SB Nation’s NHL site and writing for SB Nation Sharks sites Fear The Fin and Battle of California.”

Now to the reference. There’s technically two. One is a planet that is referenced in the book named Arda. Was it explicitly named because of me? Who’s to say? Was there already a planet named Arda from years ago? Unclear. Nobody should investigate. Am I going to take credit for the naming of this planet and claim it as my own? You bet I am.

The second is a character named Zeev Oversam, who is an executive corporate liaison to the Empire.

Let’s unpack the name. Zeev definitely looks like a nod to Zeev Buium, current Vancouver Canucks defenseman. But at the 2024 NHL draft, the NCAA national champion with the Denver Pioneers was drafted 12th overall by the Minnesota Wild.

The Sharks had the pick directly before this and selected fellow defenseman Sam Dickinson from the OHL’s London Knights at 11th overall.

Remember: Chen is a Sharks fan.

Zeev Oversam.

Zeev Over Sam.

Could this be one Sharks fan’s opinion of general manager Mike Grier’s draft decisions? A clever way to sneak in hockey names into The Galaxy Far, Far Away? Or both?

I didn’t ask Mike if this was indeed the case. For now, I’m rolling with it as 1000% Star Wars (and hockey) canon.