Meet US hockey player Jack Hughes, who scored the golden goal at the Winter Olympics
Hughes, who comes from a family of hockey players and may be dating Tate McRae, broke two of his teeth shortly before winning the Olympic gold for his team
Hughes’ missing front teeth barely seem to have dampened his mood. “I looked on the ice and saw my teeth like, ‘Here we go again’,” the forward joked to the media at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. “I’m from the best country in the world. We’ve got great dentists there, too. So I’m lucky I’m American, and they’re gonna fix me right up.”
The athlete went on to celebrate his team’s victory on Instagram with a post featuring a photo of him and his stylish new tooth gap alongside his team. “I love my country,” he wrote in the caption, adding US flag emojis.
More recently, Hughes and his teammates came under fire after a video of the US men’s hockey team receiving an invitation from President Donald Trump went viral this week. In the clip, the team can be heard laughing after Trump joked that he would be impeached if he didn’t also invite the women’s team, which also won gold at the Olympics.
Several people took to Instagram and X to criticise Hughes – whose mother, Ellen Weinberg-Hughes, has worked with the women’s programme – and the men’s team for staying silent instead of defending the equally decorated women.
The women’s team have since declined Trump’s invitation.
Here’s everything you need to know about Jack Hughes.
He grew up in an athletic family
Jack Hughes was born in May 2001 in Orlando, Florida. His father, Jim, played hockey and later became a coach. His mother, Ellen, grew up playing football and lacrosse, and later collegiate ice hockey at the University of New Hampshire, winning a silver medal on the USA squad at the 1992 Women’s World Championship. She’s also been a player development consultant for the US women’s ice hockey team since 2023.