Team USA star caught mocking Olympic opponent as comment picked up by mic
The comment was made during a break in play.
Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Olympics, United States, Germany, Ice Hockey
Ryan Smart
Topics: Olympics, United States, Germany, Ice Hockey
Team USA ice hockey star Matthew Tkachuk was caught by a hot mic mocking his opponent during a Winter Olympics match.
As you might expect, both the USA and Canada feature prominently in Olympic men's and women's ice hockey competitions, given the world-renowned prominence of the National Hockey League (NHL) that players from both nations play in.
While they perhaps aren't as dominant in men's Olympic competition as you might expect - neither nation medalled in Beijing, and Canada last won gold in 2014 - it is a different story in women's competition, as their teams have won every gold and silver medal on offer since Vancouver 2010.
While the vast majority of NHL players come from Canada and the United States, there are a significant number from Sweden (95), Russia (65) and Finland (46) - nations which are also competitive in Winter Olympics.
Advert
There are also eight players from Germany, including Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl.
Draisaitl is one of the NHL's top stars, and was the league's leading goalscorer in the 2025 season. He was also named as a Second Team All-Star.
Tkachuk, meanwhile, plays for rival team Florida Panthers, with his side defeating the Oilers in the final of last season's Stanley Cup.
And the Team USA winger was quick to remind Draisaitl of that fact in a remark that was picked up off-camera during USA's group stage match against Germany in Milan.
During the second phase of the match, which USA went on to win 5-1, Tkachuk launched a brutal putdown of his German opponent by skating towards him and exclaiming (as per The Athletic): "Always the bridesman, eh, Leon? Always the bridesmaid, never the bride."
Speaking after the match, Tkachuk told reporters that it's 'always fun' to play against the German forward, adding: "Some guys, you've got to play harder than most physically, and maybe after the whistle sometimes, too.
"I thought our line ... did an unbelievable job of giving him and their line nothing tonight. Sometimes you've got to play both parts of the game."
Team USA's 5-1 victory means they went unbeaten through the group stage, and will now enter the quarter-finals.
Germany, and the seven other teams who did not advance automatically, will instead enter the qualification play-offs.
USA and Germany could face each other again in the final to decide the gold medal winner, but Germany could face a fiendish tie against reigning gold medallists Finland before then.
USA, meanwhile, may need to defeat Canada in the semi-finals in their attempts to win their first men's ice hockey gold since all the way back in 1980.