Yes, the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team needed that overtime goal to win the gold.

But so did America, perhaps more than Team USA.

The marvelous goal by Jack Hughes, 24, to topple Team Canada at the Winter Olympics in Milan not only raised the spirit of America, but it inspired millions of young Americans as well.

It was more than just a goal. It was a call for unity. It was a patriotic statement of what young Americans can accomplish working together with grit, dedication, commitment, camaraderie, unity and talent.

When Hughes beat Canadian goalie Jordan Binnington with that overtime, sudden death wrist shot, it was more than just a score, it was a shot heard around the country and the world.

The victory was patriotic, not only in flag wearing and flag waving, but in words as well.

Hughes, who had some teeth knocked out earlier by a Canadian high stick, said, “I love the USA. I love my teammates. The USA hockey brotherhood is so strong, and we have so much support… and I am so proud to be an American today.”

Hughes’ enthusiastic patriotism could only be topped if he had said he regretted only that he had just two teeth to give to his country.

But his words were strong enough to compel President Donald Trump to phone his congratulations to the boys of winter in their locker room and invite them to the White House and to his address to Congress.

And they were echoed by team captain Matthew Tkachuk, who said of the victory, “It was such a major way to unite the country.”

While the achievement may not go that far, given liberal sniping at Trump for honoring the young men, it may have a positive influence on many lost boys searching the internet for meaning.

These are the growing number of young men who are dropouts, do not work or have meaningful or fulfilling jobs, do not marry, have no children, few friends, and live in the basement of their parents’ home.

They have no life and often become radicalized by dark sites on the internet or the hateful Democratic end-of-the-world rhetoric that labels Trump as Hitler and his supporters as Nazis.

It is both eerie and symbolic that while Hughes and his teammates were winning the gold medal for their country on Sunday, one of these lost young men, Austin Tucker, 21, was shot and killed after breaching the security at Mar-a-Lago.

He had a shotgun which he presumably planned to use. While employed at a North Carolina golf club, he lived with his parents.

Tucker followed in the pattern of Tyler Robinson, 22, charged with assassinating Charlie Kirk, whose mission was to to save “lost boys”  like Robinson; or Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, another loner, who shot and wounded Trump at a political rally in Butler, PA, on July 13, 2024; or Luigi Mangione, 26, an Ivy Leaguer who is accused of shooting UnitedHealthcare executive Bryan Thompson in the back and killing him in Manhattan in December of 2024. There are more, but you get the picture.

What is important about the Olympic gold medal victory is that the American hockey players showed the lost young men of America that there is a different and better way to live than being ensnared  by the sewer sites of the internet, or whipped into an unhinged frenzy through the vicious, hateful rhetoric from the left. Listen to Hughes.

“The gold medal is for all the guys that came before us and all the kids who are going to come after us,” he said.

As for the missing teeth, Hughes added, “I was disappointed I lost the teeth. Yeah. I mean it sounds definitely crazy for you guys, because it’s a different profession. But in hockey, if you lose your teeth, it’s not even a question of coming back and playing. That’s like an automatic.”

Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com