Nearly 21 Million Viewers Watched NBCUniversal’s Coverage of USA-Canada Olympic Men’s Gold Medal Hockey Game, Peaking at 26 Million for Game-Winning Goal on NBC & Peacock

Team USA’s 2-1 OT Win Averaged a Combined 20.7 Million Viewers and 18.6 Million Live (8:15-11 a.m. ET) on NBC & Peacock, Marking the Most-Watched Pre-9 a.m. ET Sporting Event on Record in U.S.

February 25, 2026

Team USA’s thrilling 2-1 overtime victory against Canada in Sunday’s Milan Cortina Olympics men’s gold medal hockey game was watched by 20.7 million viewers across NBC, Peacock and Versant’s USA Network, and peaked at 26.0 million live viewers on NBC and Peacock for the game-winning goal, based on Nielsen Big Data + Panel and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

The USA-Canada gold-medal game delivered an average live audience of 18.6 million viewers on NBC and Peacock (8:15-11 a.m. ET), which:

Marks the most-watched pre-9 a.m. ET (start time) sporting event on record in U.S. history.
Ranks as NBC Sports’ second-most watched hockey game ever, behind only the USA-Canada men’s gold medal game at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, which had a more favorable puck drop time of 3:15 p.m. ET (27.6 million viewers).
Includes NBC Sports’ most-watched streaming audience (excluding NFL), with an average of 3.7 million viewers, led by Peacock.

“As the final medal event, the gold-medal hockey game was a fitting crescendo to a spectacular 17 days of Milan Cortina Winter Olympic competition that we were so honored to present. We applaud all the athletes, organizers, and our gracious hosts, and thank our passionate Team NBC colleagues who worked tirelessly to bring these Winter Games, Super Bowl LX, and the NBA All-Star Game to more than 215 million Americans in our ‘Legendary February.’”

— Rick Cordella, President, NBC Sports

“Jack Hughes wins it! The golden goal for the United States! For the first time since the 1980 Miracle, the United States takes the gold!” – Kenny Albert

An astounding average of 26.0 million viewers on NBC and Peacock were watching between 10:45-11 a.m. ET as Kenny Albert called Jack Hughes’ overtime game-winner for Team USA (10:52 a.m. ET). The victory marked the United States’ first Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey since 1980.

“For all the young people out there, not just the hockey, but all the Olympics you’ve watched, those dreams are for now. Go chase them and go get them. Because our country loves sports and it brings us together unlike anything else.” – Mike Tirico

Following NBC Olympics host Mike Tirico’s memorable sign-off, NBCUniversal made the gold-medal game replay available on-demand on Peacock, presented a full encore on USA Network at 4 p.m. ET, and aired a two-hour version of the game on NBC stations following their late local news on Sunday event. Collectively, those presentations delivered 2.1 million viewers.

NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2036, which are scheduled for Milan Cortina (2026), Los Angeles (2028), French Alps (2030), Brisbane (2032), Utah (2034), and the 2036 Summer Games. Click here for more information on how to watch the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.