United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district . The country is situated mostly in central North America , where its forty - eight contiguous states and Washington , D . C . , the capital district , lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans , bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south . The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent , with Canada to its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait , and the state of Hawaii is in the mid - Pacific . The United States also possesses several territories , or insular areas , that are scattered around the Caribbean and Pacific . Hockey . Hockey ' s origins in USA are almost as old as they are in Canada . The first professional league in the USA was organised in the early 1900 ' s . In 1920 , the United States Amateur Hockey Association was founded , and it became a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation . The USA made its international debut in 1920 , as it won Olympic silver medals in Antwerp . In 1924 - 25 , Boston Bruins became the first US team to play in the NHL . USA missed the 1928 Olympics and the 1930 World Championships because there were no governing body for amateur hockey in the country during the period from 1926 to 1930 . The country returned to the international arenas in 1931 , and two years later it won its first World Championship . Ice hockey , universally referred to as hockey , is less popular than baseball , basketball and football , but is still considered a major sport . The National Hockey League is the major professional league in North America , and 23 of its 30 teams are based in the United States ; the other seven are located in Canada . Always a cultural mainstay in some northern areas , hockey has gained tenuous footholds in regions like the Carolinas , Tampa Bay , Florida and Dallas / Fort Worth , Texas in recent years , as the National Hockey League pursued a policy of expansion . Recreational ice hockey on a wide scale , as well as hockey at the high school and college levels , is generally confined to hockey country , specifically New England and the Great Lakes region , but recreational leagues do exist in large - and medium - sized metropolitan areas throughout the United States . Hockey legends include Wayne Gretzky , Mario Lemieux , Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe ( all of whom are Canadians who played either extensively or exclusively for U . S . - based pro teams ) . International . On the international level , the United States is continuously ranked in the elite of the world and part of the Big Seven along with Canada , Russia , Finland , Slovakia , Sweden , and the Czech Republic . The United States men ' s national ice hockey team is based in Colorado Springs , Colorado with its U18 and U17 development program in Ann Arbor , Michigan . The team is controlled by USA Hockey . Because of the United States ' performance in the 2009 World Championships ( 4th place ) , the team moved up one spot – passing Czech Republic – to 5th in the IIHF World Rankings . The United States won silver medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Olympics and the gold medal at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey . The team ' s most recent medal at the World Championships came in 2004 with a bronze and they won the tournament in 1960 and 1933 . At the 2004 World Cup of Hockey , the U . S . was unable to defend its title , losing to Finland in the semifinals . Most recently , the team finished fourth in the 2009 IIHF World Championship . Its current head coach is Ron Wilson . As of 2007 , the United States has a total of 480 , 038 registered ice hockey players ( 0 . 20 % of its population ) . They are the current Olympic Silver medalists , after losing to Canada in overtime at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 . History . The American ice hockey team ' s greatest success was the " Miracle on Ice " at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid , New York when they defeated the heavily favored Soviet Union on the way to a gold medal . Though hockey is not a universally popular sport in the United States , the " Miracle " is often listed as one of the greatest achievements in the history of American sports . The U . S . also won the gold medal in the 1960 games at Squaw Valley , California . U . S . hockey had a spike in talent in the 1980s and 1990s with top NHL stars like Brett Hull , Kevin Stevens , Jeremy Roenick , Tony Amonte , Doug Weight , Tom Barasso , Mike Richter , Brian Leetch , Chris Chelios , John LeClair , Keith Tkachuk , Pat Lafontaine and Mike Modano . As a result , the team won the 1996 World Cup and earned a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics , which the roster included additional superstars such as Chris Drury , Scott Gomez , Brian Rafalski , Jamie Langenbrunner , and Adam Deadmarsh . But by 2006 , many of these NHL All - Stars had retired or lost their skill with age . Though the 2006 Olympic Team finished a disappointing 8th place , it was more of a transitional team , featuring young NHL players like Rick DiPietro , Jordan Leopold and John - Michael Liles . The 2010 Olympic team was composed of much younger and faster players than teams of previous years such as Patrick Kane , Zach Parise , Dustin Brown , Joe Pavelski , Ryan Callahan , Phil Kessel , Mike Komisarek , and Bobby Ryan . The team also had a solid group of veterans that included top NHL goalie Ryan Miller and top defenseman Brian Rafalski . The U . S . team upset team Canada 5 - 3 in the round - robin phase of the tournament and went into the single elimination phase of the tournament as the number one seeded team . After beating Finland 6 - 1 the U . S . advanced to the Gold Medal game where they lost in overtime 3 - 2 to Canada to claim the Silver Medal . The Gold Medal game between Canada and the U . S . was watched by an estimated 27 . 6 million U . S . households . This was the most watched hockey game in America since the 1980 " Miracle on Ice " game including any Stanley Cup Final or Winter Classic broadcast . However , several months later at IIHF World Championship the US ice hockey team set the worst record in its entire history by losing all three games of the preliminary round . It eliminated them from medal competition and placed them below the 12th place . However , the US later secured a spot in the 2011 championship by winning all three games in the relegation round .