Nearly 90% Of Team USA Hockey Came Up in Michigan

The 2026 Winter Olympics marks a major moment in hockey history: the first time in 12 years that NHL players have been allowed to participate in the games, giving hockey fans best on best for the first time since… well… technically last year.

The favorites to reach the final as always are the Americans and the Canadians, and the Americans will be looking to avenge a loss in the Four Nations tournament last year.

Team USA consists of 25 players, almost all of them have ties to Michigan.

All but three of the current U.S. Olympic hockey roster represented the stars and stripes long before suiting up in the NHL. They started their hockey careers playing for the United States National Development Team Program in Plymouth Township.

One of those players is Michigan native and New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes, who set the program record with 228 career points in three years with the program before getting drafted first overall by the Devils in 2019.

But that’s not all of the Michigan ties, defensemen Quinn Hughes (brother of Jack) and Zach Werenski, as well forward Kyle Connor and the Detroit Red Wings Dylan Larkin all played DI collegiate hockey at the University of Michigan, with Larkin, Connor, and Werenski all playing there together during the 2015-16 season, winning a Big Ten Championship before making the jump to the NHL.

If that wasn’t enough, Werenski, Connor, Larkin, and Olympic goalie Connor Hellebuyck were all born in the great state of Michigan, with many team members spending their off-seasons in southeast Michigan and training out of the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, where they got their start.

Nearly 90% best America’s best hockey players developed their skills in the state of Michigan. Move over Minnesota, American hockey runs through the Great Lakes State.