BEIJING – Matty Beniers boarded his Los Angeles-based flight to Beijing for this month’s Winter Olympics alongside a pair of former Michigan Wolverines hockey players joining him as members of Team USA. Dressed in red, white and blue team sweats with matching U.S.-themed sneakers on his feet and a custom team backpack, the 19-year-old clapped his hands as he stepped into the main cabin.
“Go Blue,” he then said to a stranger on the flight wearing a Michigan hoodie.
It shows where his priorities are in this stage of his young career. The Hingham, Massachusetts, native and Kraken prospect who became the franchise’s first draft pick last July decided to stay his sophomore year in Ann Arbor to rejoin a trio of Michigan teammates also selected in the first round of last summer’s NHL draft.
Now, he’s the hope of a youthful American squad looking to win its first men’s hockey medal since 2010 and its first gold since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team.
Beniers and Team USA will play Tuesday night in the Olympic quarterfinals against the winner of Monday’s play-in game between Slovakia and Germany. A win in the quarterfinals would guarantee the Americans a chance at a medal.
With NHL players sitting out this year’s Winter Olympics, Beniers’ decision to stay in college has unexpectedly landed him on the world’s largest international hockey stage. And it’s paying huge dividends for the Americans.
Beniers has centered the second line and scored once as the Americans won all three games in the preliminary group stage, including a 4-2 slugfest over rival Canada on Saturday. The victory over Canada was Team USA’s first over the Great White North at the Olympics in 12 years.
“It’s crazy, for sure,” he told the Seattle Times on Saturday of playing on the Olympic team. “A total honor and I couldn’t be happier to be here.”
The Kraken prospect is the youngest of 15 college students and five teenagers on Team USA, and his 58 minutes of ice time is tops among American forwards so far. Beniers’ goal in the opening game against an overmatched China team is his only point, and his total plus-minus of 1 doesn’t exactly stand out on the stat sheet. But USA coach David Quinn has offered nothing but praise.
“He’s been everything we could have asked for to this point,” Quinn said. “He’s still learning but he’s incredibly talented and we trust him out there as much as anyone on the roster.”
Beniers is part of USA Hockey’s revamped Olympic strategy without NHL players in the Winter Games, after an American team full of washed out former NHLers underwhelmed four years ago in Pyeongchang, losing in the quarterfinals. Instead of trying to match experience with traditional European powers like Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic, the U.S. and Canada have prioritized talent by going young.
Beniers was a shoo-in to make the team, U.S. men’s general manager John Vanbiesbrouck told the Seattle Times, thanks to his track record with the national team in the junior ranks. Beniers represented the United States on the U18 level back in 2019, then again in last year’s World Junior and IIHF world championships. The Kraken prospect led the Americans to a medal finish in all three tournaments.
Asked what it’ll take to end the Olympic team’s medal drought, Beniers said Team USA’s best start in group play in over a decade should be a sign of things to come.
“We’re just getting started but we’ve definitely found a rhythm as a team,” he said. “Our veteran players, like (team captain Andy Miele) and (former Boston Bruins defenseman Steven Kampfer) have been huge. We’re playing pretty well and we just have to keep the momentum going.”
The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.