The Americans will be looking for their third-straight win and fourth in the last six years, but that level of domination was a long time coming. Zach Parise’s MVP turn at the 2004 World Juniors in Helsinki and Hameenlinna, Finland, came as the United States captured gold for the first time ever at the U20 level.
“It was the same group of players that had previously won the Under-18, a couple years prior to that, so we knew we had a good squad going in,” Parise told the media as he was named to the 2025 Class of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame on Wednesday. “It’s a little bit of a feather in the cap for us that that we were able to be able to be the first United States team to win it.”
After Parise turned pro in the fall of 2004, he continued to don the Stars and Stripes with regularity. He played in two Olympics, scoring the late goal that forced overtime in the gold-medal game in 2010 and serving as the U.S. captain in 2014. Parise also skated in three World Championships and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
“We were always proud to represent the United States whenever we got the opportunity to,” Parise said.
The United States Hockey Hall of Fame celebrates extraordinary contributions to the sport. Incorporated in 1969, the first class was inducted into the Hall in 1973.
With its museum in Eveleth, Minnesota and USA Hockey now serving as its caretaker, the 53th class that is being enshrined this year also includes Parise’s teammate from the New Jersey Devils, Scott Gomez, his Olympic teammate Joe Pavelski, two-time Olympian and gold medalist Tara Mounsey and veteran photographer Bruce Bennett, who will shoot his seventh Winter Olympics in Italy in 2026.
“I’ve got to play with Joe and Scott — Scott a lot, and Joe a handful of times over the career,” Parise said. “Just great people, so humbled to be joining with you guys and to be in with a lot of the players that I looked up to growing up.”
Parise’s roots in the State of Hockey run deep. Born in Minneapolis in 1984, his first coach was his father, longtime Minnesota North Stars winger J.P. Parise.
“I learned so much through him about work ethic and what it takes to make it, and what what it took for him to make it,” he said.
In addition to his father, the players Parise looked up to…
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