MILAN — Minutes after U.S. women’s hockey coach John Wroblewski held a news conference alongside captain Hilary Knight and overtime hero Megan Keller late Thursday night, he was shooting the breeze with a reporter and began gazing at the shiny medal around Knight’s neck.
“Can I check out your gold medal?” Wroblewski asked the longtime face of U.S. women’s hockey, who scored the tying goal with 2:04 left in the game. “I’ve got to check one of these things out.”
As Knight took it off her neck and placed it in his left hand, Wroblewski delicately held the precious medal, admired it and smiled widely.
“It’s heavy,” he said.
“I know, right?” said Knight, who has won three silver medals and now her second gold in her fifth and final Olympics. “Very heavy.”
USA women’s hockey coach John Wroblewski asked Hilary Knight, “Can I check out your gold medal?” pic.twitter.com/OGX43I97AM
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 20, 2026
Photos of the exchange taken by The Athletic and posted on X and in a postgame story later went viral.
Turns out, many sports fans didn’t realize that hockey coaches don’t get medals at the Olympics the way they get rings if they coach a team to a championship. Only the players receive medals. If coaches were eligible, in addition to the added expense, it would be nearly impossible to determine where to draw the line.
Wroblewski, coincidentally, had already brought up the fact that he wouldn’t get a medal if the United States won gold after the Americans’ semifinal win over Sweden.
“Now that we’re here, that’s the bullseye,” he said Monday. “Personally, I’ve been through trying to chase after things, prizes, and that doesn’t go all that well. I’m thinking about (our athletes). I’m getting chills thinking about helping them get to what they want.
“I don’t get a gold medal here if we win, which is great. They don’t mean anything to me.”
Wroblewski, wearing a white Team USA jacket, attended Friday night’s men’s hockey semifinal between the U.S. and Slovakia. During the first intermission, after chatting with players Joy Dunne and Kirsten Simms and talking to them excitedly about their appearance with the rest of the team on NBC’s “Today” show, Wroblewski began chatting with team general manager Katie Million, assistant coaches Shari Dickerman and Brent Hill and goalie coach Alli Altmann.
None of them got gold medals, either.
Wroblewski reiterated to The Athletic that, in his mind, this is the way it should be.
In fact, last year, after coaching the United States to a gold medal at the World Championship, he and the coaching staff did receive gold medals — and he doesn’t think they should have.
“I actually think this is the proper way to do it,” Wroblewski said. “I feel like it should only be the athletes. It’s kind of like, ‘Are you motivated by prize as a coach, or are you motivated by service?’ And what’s actually your role? If you’re looking at it like the medal is something that represents the job that you did, you might not be in it for the right reasons.
“I just really feel like your job is to facilitate the players, and that’s your purpose. You’re not involved with the prize at the end. That’s their prize.”
Does he feel like he’s leaving the Olympics empty-handed?
“No way,” Wroblewski said. “It’s the complete opposite. I feel like the coach gets probably too much recognition and too much attention, at times, positive and negative. The format that the Olympics has is all athlete-based, and I feel that’s the right way. My satisfaction was watching those women last night fulfill their dream and get the gold medals that they earned.”