U.S. Olympic men's hockey team snubs fans wanting high fives
The American Olympic men’s hockey team isn’t showing much love to their supporters in Italy.
With the quarter-finals coming up in the men’s tournament, the Americans are looking to secure Olympic hockey gold for the first time since the 1980’s “Miracle on Ice.” So far, things have gone well for the USA, finishing the preliminary round a perfect 3-0-0 and sitting as the second-seed going into the playoffs, behind only arch-rival Canada.
A lot of American supporters have made the trip to Milan to watch the USA on their quest for gold. You’d think that the U.S. players would be ecstatic to see all the support so far away from home, but a video of the team snubbing a fan wanting some high fives after a victory has put that into question.
That was in stark contrast to how Canada treated their fans after an Olympic win, with just about every player giving high fives to their supporters.
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That contrast post from the CBC went viral, amassing over 96,000 likes and sparking lots of debate in the comment section. Admittedly, it’s probably a bit of a nitpick to take this one instance and conclude that the Americans don’t care about fan support. Still, it was a weird look for a U.S. squad that will need all the help it can get to beat a loaded Canadian team.
Olympic hockey fans had some opposing views of the situation.
“So, representing their team/country means giving a single fan who requests one a high five?” said one X user. “I’ll criticize/celebrate the play on the ice on match days, and I’ll leave it at that.”
So proud to be Canadian šØš¦š pic.twitter.com/XGUyZ7U3UT
ā Matts Zucarello (@MattsZucar20396) February 16, 2026
“Do better, Team USA! You don’t snub Olympic fans!” said another X user.
If a thousand people lined up on the way out of your office to your car and you had to high five every one of them every night wouldnāt you get a little tired of that? Kids are different, but no they dont feel the need to high five 55 year old Jimmy.
ā Eric Tenhairs (@JeanGirard__69) February 17, 2026
It’s especially strange since the Americans have chosen to immerse themselves by staying in the Olympic Village, while the Canadians have opted to leave it in favour of an off-site hotel. Being in that village, you’d think that Olympic spirit would be a bit higher among Team USA’s players.
Nonetheless, it was an excellent example of classic Canadian hospitality on the world’s biggest stage.