U.S. defenseman and Colorado College hockey alum Jaccob Slavin became the first Tiger in program history to win an Olympic gold medal.

On Sunday, Team USA men’s hockey won gold in the Olympics for the first time since 1980 with a 2-1 overtime victory against Canada in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. 

Slavin was +1 in the plus/minus category for the U.S. in the gold-medal game.

He played for the Tigers from 2013-15 before joining the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. In his freshman season, he was named the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s rookie of the year, received NCHC second-team all-conference honors, won the Tigers’ M.B. Hopper Award as the Tigers’ leading scorer and was also named the Thayer Tutt Most Valuable Player. 

The following season, he was named first-team all-NCHC. 

He also helped the Tigers capture the Gold Pan trophy from rival Denver in his rookie season. On Sunday, he once again propelled his team to victory over its rival. 

After both the U.S. and Canada were tied at the end of regulation, U.S. left wing Jack Hughes scored the golden goal at 1:41 of the 3-on-3 overtime period. 

U.S. goalie Connor Hellebuyck was instrumental in the team’s win, stopping 41 of 42 shots from the Canadians.