Winter Olympics hockey winners, losers: Team USA stars silence critics

The United States silenced critics by snaring a gold medal, but some NHL teams lose players to injuries.

When Team USA general manager Bill Guerin named the U.S. Olympic men's ice hockey team on Jan. 2, the second guessing began.

It was mostly the 4 Nations Face-Off team, which was impressive but lost to Canada in the final. There were a few others, such as Quinn Hughes, who had been named to last year's team but couldn't go because of an injury.

Tage Thompson was a welcome addition, as was Clayton Keller. But why were big-time scorers Cole Caufield, Jason Robertson and Lane Hutson left off while J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck of the struggling New York Rangers were brought back?

Guerin said he was building a hockey team, not an All-Star team.

Well, he was right. The United States won its first gold medal since 1980, beating Canada 2-1 in overtime, completing an impressive year for USA Hockey's top national teams. There was a women's hockey gold, also against Canada, a men's and women's world championship and a sweep of the women's Rivalry Series.