Connor Hellebuyck fires message at haters who don’t ‘understand goaltending’

The 2026 Winter Olympics turned out to be very special for American goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. Hellebuyck put together a monster of a performance Sunday for Team USA men’s hockey. He helped his club win the gold medal at the Olympics, with an overtime win over Canada.

Following the game, Hellebuyck had words to say about his critics.

“Those critics, they can keep writing,” Hellebuyck said, per ESPN. “But they don’t understand goaltending. They don’t understand my game. I know what I’m putting forward. I know what I’m building. These are the moments that prove it — not that I need to.”

The goalie, who struggled in the 2025 NHL playoffs, withstood an explosive Canadian offense in the gold medal game. Team USA won in overtime, 2-1, after Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal.

“It’s going to go down as one of the best performances of all time — it has to,” Team USA star Matthew Tkachuk said of Hellebuyck. “Right up there with Jimmy Craig [in 1980], all the great United States goaltenders. In the NHL, whatever type of hockey, whatever goaltending performance you want to talk about, that’s right up there.”

Hellebuyck finished the gold medal game with 41 saves.

Connor Hellebuyck loved his experience with Team USA at the Olympics

Team USA’s goaltender came up with some big saves in Sunday’s game. He stopped Canadian star Connor McDavid on a breakaway in the second period. He then followed that up in the third period with an impressive stick save on Devon Toews.

“It’s a dream come true,” Hellebuyck said about his Olympics experience, per NHL.com. “I love this group. We’ve had so much fun over here. We’ve grinded, we’ve battled. This is some of the best and most fun hockey I’ve ever played.

“It still hasn’t truthfully sunk in, so, you know, I’m looking forward to celebrating in the next 24 hours. And who knows how long it’s going to last? You know, this is surreal. [The gold medal is] around my neck. It’s a dream come true.”

This NHL season, Hellebuyck is playing again for the Winnipeg Jets. He has 13 victories this season with Winnipeg.

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