Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Jack O’Callahan reflects on U.S. men's hockey team winning Olympic gold

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote welcomed on 1980 Team USA men's hockey standout Jack O'Callahan to reflect on the Americans beating Canada, 2-1, in overtime Sunday to win the gold medal. The 2026 team's gold medal was the first since O'Callahan and the "Miracle on Ice" team had won gold 46 years earlier.

Rahimi Harrison Grooty, Midday's tidal two. I'm on Chicago Sports Radio. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 The Score, and we are waiting to talk to Jack O'Callaghan. He was a defenseman on the Miracle on Ice Team. And at that point that we had just booked him, only a couple hours outside of being on the last Olympic gold medal hockey team. But here we are. six years later, we finally get another one, and we talked all about it in our first hour here on Rahimi, Harrison Grotie.

And the thing about Jack, and what that team did that was so ridiculous, is that you got to understand, America's only won gold once before. That was back in 1960. And the Russians had won four out of the five previous Olympic gold medals in men's hockey. So it was the fact that amateurs only. But in Russia, they basically made their amateurs, you know, workers in the state or the national government so they could just, you know, play hockey. They were pros. They were pros.

They were pros. They were pros. They were pros. Those men against boys. David versus Goliath. Congratulations. This is your job. It was a very different feel.

And that's why it's called Miracle on Ice. That's why it's ridiculous. This time felt different to me because it was like more of a we're here. We've arrived as a nation where we're. we can roll with the big boys and not only be in metal contention, but to win the gold medal and to beat Canada, not anybody else, but beat Canada to do it, it's like a little extra, a little extra, umph on it. A little mustard.

A little extra mustard on the pole's sausage. Like those little spicy mustard packs to get with Chinese food. You ever, you ever try those? That's a little too hot for me. Those are really hot. They're fun and I like them. I have acid reflux. Oh, yeah.

That's not good. It's one of my vulnerabilities. My favorite McDonald's sauce was the hot mustard. Oh, yeah. I started on sweet and sour because you know that's had, you start them young, but hot mustard became the one. Clears the nasal passages. Definitely clears the nasal bashed. Oh, I was going to say, it's got to have a little horseradish in it or something because it does.

I think it does. That's right? Because there's something, there's some active, there's some very active ingredients in those little Chinese mustard packets. Speaking of a horsey sauce, I put some horsy sauce on my potato cakes the last time I went to Arby's. A little extra. Okay. Arby's. I haven't had a good beef and cheddar in a long time.

That was a staple of my college life. This is the danger of the lunchtime show. This is it. We start thinking about beef and cheddar. You start getting hungry. I don't know what I'm eating here, but it's good. In the neighborhood, that's a different slogan. They've got the meats from what I understand.

That's what I've been told. They've got the meats. You know, you guys know proteins who made a comeback. Oh, yeah. I hear it has. A little dasher protein in everything. Anything and everything. Technically there is a little in most things, so that works out.

We're in the protein era. Except for maybe like iceberg lettuce or something. Maybe not ice. You could get a little protein on there, though? It's a lot of water. Fair enough. Put a little peanut butter on it, maybe. Well, that would change it.

Delish. We are now going to our hotline here on 1043, the score. And joining us, part of the Miracle on Ice team, the last Olympic gold men's hockey team. Until yesterday, Jack O'Callaghan. Jack, thanks for coming on. Sure, a pleasure. Yeah, really still kind of feeling the affection of yesterday. Very excited, very exciting for USA hockey and America and for those,

that great team of young American hockey players. And Jack, it's video that you're familiar with, of course. We don't just play the video of the Lake Placid team every four years at the Olympic Games anytime. Team USA hockey would take the ice. But it is a fond memory that we have as a sports aside. So when you're watching the game and probably reliving that video every single time, did you think that there was a good chance that Team USA was going to actually make some memories of their own yesterday? Well, I had high hopes for them going into the game.

But you know it was going to be a challenging tough game with Canada. And after the U.S. women's team had defeated the Canadian woman. So the Canadians had a little extra motivation not to go back to back. losses on top of that. They're a great hockey team. But I just was hoping for a good competitive game. And it turned out to be a great, great game. You know, it was 20 minutes hard fought, good goal-tending.

And then going in overtime like that was just a special way for them to win, especially with Jack Hughes. I mean, typical hockey player, right? He gets his teeth knocked out and five minutes left in the game, you know, goes in, whatever, rinses his mouthful goes out and scores the overtime goal. half his teeth missing. I mean, it was just spectacular. It's the stuff of legend.

And what can I tell you, man? I was euphoric for those kids. And I know a lot of them. I know pretty good friends of most of the guys that were coaching and managing. And, yeah, it was just a tremendous day. I was so excited and so happy for them. And I'm still feeling it today. So it's just very exciting.

Jack, I'm sure it was euphoric to see your namesake score that game winning goal and overtime. What I'm curious about is how much of a callback did you have to your moment, like Placid, when you see that golden goal happen? What were your immediate thoughts and reactions? I'm sure you had been sitting on, you know, pens and needles waiting to see what happened in overtime, right? No, you're wrong. It's totally overstating it. I mean, you know, it was 406 years ago that we had our moments and it was been great. It was great. It was great. but that was ours, you know, it was unique. None of that was really sort of in my heart or in my mind, you know, watching the game.

I was, this is their time. It was their moment. And I was just enjoying seeing them being in the Olympics playing as well as they did. I mean, it was a hard fought. You know, every team they played getting to this point was very challenging. And, you know, watching the game going to overtime and the Canadian. is really coming on strong. And yeah, to me, it was just like I was watching a hockey game

with a bunch of guys that I know. Look, we've seen the 84 Olympics, the 80s, you know, 92, 96. I mean, the World Cup, I mean, we've seen it all. You know, 2002 Olympics and the 2010 in Vancouver. It's been a lot of Olympics since 1980 and watched all of it. And yesterday it was just another one of those days that I was just having fun. You know, like I said, know a lot of those kids. I, you know, watch them in the NHL.

You know, always feel connected to the USA hockey team. And yesterday was just really fun. It was fun for us to be able to, I mean, speaking from my team, my 80 team, it was just fun for us to be able to watch these, you know, young great players go out there and the way they came together in two weeks over there and became a real team. And then fighting through all the adversity they had yesterday, Canada was coming hard at them. Hela Buck played obviously phenomenally. You've got to have good goal tending in a tournament

like that. I just very happy, you know, just happy that it worked out the way it did and thrilled for everybody and they're just going to have, you know, I can only wish for them what's happened to us. You know, we've had 46 years of great conversations and wonderful experiences, and I hope they have the same thing because, you know, my 80 team, we've been really blessed with that. We're very fortunate, and I'm just really excited to these guys.

Yeah, I love your attitude. about it because not not the two vastly different situations obviously with what happened in i mean it was it was the greatest david versus goliath amateur players these are pro players so i love that you you can different discern this ain't this is not what we did this is this is not they're not really comparable are they no there's no comparison whatsoever i mean we were you know if Japan had gone through the Olympics and beaten the U.S. and beaten Canada and won the gold medal. Maybe then you could say, well, that might be a miracle. Right, right.

But, you know, for us, you know, coming, growing up in the 60s and 70s, and as we closed in on 1980, you know, what was going on in the country and the world and everything else, I mean, it was just a whole different time, right? I mean, Americans weren't in the NHL. They weren't really well-respected, sort of in the genre of, like, world hockey. And we really, you know, we broke through that glass ceiling. What we did in 1980, you know, created opportunities, not just for some of the guys on our team, but for the guys going forward, you know, Chris Chelyos, is Eddie Olick, you know, Keith Kachuk.

And, you know, go forward for that, right, Mike Madonna. And then you move into the Patrick Kane world. And then these guys, you know, Jack Eichol and then Kachuk kids and the used kids and on and on. Right. So for us, it's like, you know, we were the descendants of 1980, I mean, 1960, right? those guys won a gold medal in Squaw Valley. And, you know, we knew all those guys. And we looked to them always, you know,

we were sort of standing on the shoulders of the guys that came before us. And, you know, to see these guys really embracing our story, you know, they've grown up watching the movie Miracle and hearing all about us for all these years. And it's been a big motivator for all these USA hockey kids to, you know, to come out and play with the passion and emotion that we had in 1980. and they certainly did that. That's probably the one real similarity is the way they came together as a team

and the way they played with passion and emotion and their pride and their USA on the front of their jerseys and playing for everybody that had done so much for them in their lives. I mean, see these kids talk after the game and the emotion that was coming out and how they handled themselves and how they handled the victory and how proud of they were of, you know,

what it took to get there, you know. not just. They understood. They understood. It wasn't just them. Yeah, it wasn't just them, you know. And so they really, they really expressed that. And it was, it was really fun to watch for me.

And, you know, what can I tell you? I'm just so thrilled. Jack O'Callaghan is joining us here in Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. Part of the Miracle on Ice team, former Chicago Black Hawk and New Jersey Devil as well. And you mentioned there's still that teammate aspect that you guys have. You know, we saw Mike Ruziani on TV last night as part of the coverage or yesterday morning, depending on when you watched it. What was the group chat like or the discussion like between some of your teammates after Team USA took gold again? Again, just so happy, you know, it was just it was happiness.

It really was. It was shared happiness. I mean, especially, you know, Davy Christian's nephew was on the team, you know, Brock Nelson and, and, you know, now you got Billy Christian and Roger Christian in 60. you got Dave's 1980 and you've got Barack Nelson here in 2006. I mean, the Christian family, so excited for them. And for us, it was nothing more than just we were just so extra happy and, you know, proud of them and all that. You know, it wasn't anything deeper than that, you know. It's just us being really happy for them and just, you know, relishing in their story.

But again, this is their story. We have ours, you know, the 60 guys have theirs. There's three U.S. men's gold medals now. So it's really spectacular. Now, we also have some hot gossip here because I know we took you away from a golf tournament, so we appreciate you doing that for us. Actually, I just finished, so we're good. Okay, good to know you got your golf in.

They're also close with Patrick Manley. How did this friendship come to me? Yeah, so Patrick's a good friend. And he's, again, you know, golf world's pretty interesting, right? I mean, when I moved to Chicago from Boston, I never played golf back in the mid-80s, early 80s. And everybody plays golf in Chicago. So I had to learn how to play, and then you get the bug. And Patrick and I became members of different times with down a Beverly Country Club.

And he's just a wonderful guy. You know, Chicago sports is awesome, right? I mean, in my life there, I don't live there anymore. I moved out of there about six years ago. I live in Florida now. But, you know, I've always had, in the 35 years I was there, I got to know so many different players from different teams, you know, whether it's Bears, the Cubs, the White Sox guys.

And, you know, it's a terrific sports community in Chicago. So it's an easy for Patrick and I to become pals and to play golf together and get to know him and his story and everything. It's just been really great. So, yeah, I love that. He's a great guy. And even Kevin Butler's another friend of mine. You know, he's down in Georgia and in Atlanta.

I live in northeast Florida, and Padovita Beach, and he came around a fair bit. So, yeah, there's a real strong Chicago connection in the athletes world, and I'm sure you guys know that. Well, we appreciate the time, and thank you so much for joining us

to be able to celebrate some gold. Thank you so much, Jeff. Very exciting. For both the men and the woman, by the way. I'm really proud of what the woman did as well. And to see Hillary Knight, who has her roots in Chicago and the North Shore, and I've known her since she was a little girl playing,

you know, my son was around the same age, is around the same age as Hillary. And to watch her journey, you know, and see how it ended for her with scoring a big goal to tie the game and, you know, carrying the flag and the closing ceremonies and everything. It was just, I'm so happy for her and for her team as well. We all, my team, my 80 team, we all feel that way about them just as well.

Well, thank you, Jack, and thanks for joining us here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie. Thanks, Jack. Thanks, thanks, everybody. See you. O-C on X. He is a defenseman on that miracle team who is now no longer the last USA men's hockey team to take gold. Coming up next on Rahibi Harrison Grotie, the combined, I guess it kind of starts tonight, but really the business starts tomorrow. So we'll do a combine pregame show next.