Be sure to have your alarm clocks set Sunday morning.
Team USA and Canada men’s hockey are set to face off for Olympic gold at 8:10 a.m. ET on Sunday, so fans will have to wake up early to see the championship game.
There are a couple of reasons behind the early start time, with the main one being — like many of the events at the 2026 Winter Olympics — the six-hour time difference between the eastern United States and Milan Cortina.
The time difference means that the gold-medal match will start at 2:10 p.m. locally before the closing ceremonies that evening.
The championship game is also the last event for this year’s Olympics before the closing ceremonies, which are expected to kick off at 2:30 p.m. ET and 8:30 p.m. in Milan.
Men’s hockey is typically one of the last events of the Olympic Games, with the championship game often being held on the final day alongside women’s cross-country skiing.
Even NBC host Mike Tirico was apologetic about the early start time and sympathetic to the fans during the broadcast on Friday while explaining the reasons behind why the game starts in the morning for viewers in the United States.
Team USA secured its ticket to the championship game on Friday with a dominant 6-2 win over Slovakia, with center Jack Hughes scoring two goals in the effort.
Hughes’ performance comes after Team USA decided to shift the 24-year-old up to the third line, with coach Mike Sullivan saying that the Devils star “could impact the game more.”
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
“We thought [Hughes] was playing real well, and so we thought by moving him up and getting him more ice time, he could impact the game more,” Sullivan told reporters Friday morning. “It was just a decision on our part based on how Jack has played and we think he’s getting better with every game he’s played.”
Team Canada’s semifinal win on Friday was not as easy, however, as they trailed Finland by two goals for a chunk of the game.
Canada then scored three unanswered goals, with Nathan MacKinnon scoring the game-winner with just 35 seconds left in the third period.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
