From Green Bass to Gold Medals - Hockey meets Fishing with Team USA Olympic Hero Connor Hellebuyck

2/23/26
by Mike McKinstry 

The final event of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic Games, the men’s hockey gold medal final between the USA and Canada, was nothing short of thrilling and an instant classic that put the USA back on top for the first time since the 1980 Lake Placid Games. If you’re American and have been on the internet at all in the past 24 hours, your feed has surely been flooded with highlights of this historic win and epic end to the 2026 Olympics. After taking an early 1–0 lead, Team USA hung on through a scrappy, hard fought defensive battle, including a nerve wracking 96-second 5-on-3 power play that they killed off without allowing a goal. With 1:44 left in the second period, Canada finally punched one through to tie the game 1–1, and the momentum seemed to begin to shift. Team USA didn’t let that momentum carry far however. Lights out defense and some unbelievable saves from goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stifled Canada’s offensive attack through the third period and sent the game to sudden death overtime. Less than two minutes into overtime, Florida native Jack Hughes scored the game winning goal through cracked and bloody teeth in a picture perfect, quintessential hockey moment—a storybook ending for the U.S. team, bringing the men’s hockey gold medal home for the first time in 46 years.

While Hughes secured the highlight game winning goal, Team USA goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was undoubtedly the MVP, playing absolutely lights out with an astounding 41 saves in what will go down as one of the all-time greatest performances in Olympic hockey history. Hellebuyck’s custom goalie helmet, adorned with a jumping bass, caught the attention of fans of both hockey and bass fishing and took the internet by storm. Hellebuyck is an avid bass fisherman in the offseason, competing in tournaments in his home state of Michigan as well as in Canada. In 2025, our very own Mike McKinstry had Connor on his Discovery Channel TV show, The Bassquatch Hunter, and got him out kayak fishing for the first time. Read below for some insight from Mike about hockey, bass fishing, and his time hanging out on the water with Connor Hellebuyck. - Feelfree Admin

Mike:  I started playing hockey when I was three years old. I switched to goalie when I was 11 years old and everything changed for me in hockey from then on. Now a week away from 42 years old, I am playing my 38th season of hockey. Needless to say hockey has always been a very big part of my life and something that I am just as familiar as I am with fishing. When I was a kid, I had hockey on frozen water and fishing on open water. Those have been two very constant hobbies and passions since I was too young to remember. Fast forward to my 30s, I decided to chase my dreams and start a TV show where I could take guests out fishing and show them what I’m passionate about and what I love to do and during those moments we could talk about their journeys obstacles and what they overcame to be where they are today. Then I would have the experience of going into their career and trying to learn what they do for the day. As my show grew I have been lucky enough to be able to fulfill many dreams that I have had since I was very young. One of them being playing hockey with NHL All-Stars. 

In the summer of 2024 I was filming for the 2025 season of my show on Discovery Channel, The Bassquatch Hunter: Fish Out of Water. Through a mutual connection I was informed that NHL All-Star Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets hockey team was a huge fish enthusiast and maybe interested in being a guest on my show. I reached out and to my surprise he immediately agreed that being on my show would be a lot of fun. Within a few weeks, the Winnipeg Jets media team flies out to my area to film behind the scenes content of me and Connor Hellebuyck fishing. Connor is no stranger to fishing with him doing multiple tournaments in Michigan and Canadian waters in the off-season. One thing Connor has never done in fishing though is fishing out of a kayak. So we met on a local lake and I let him try out my Dorado 125 from Feelfree Kayaks. This is a big comfortable pedal driven platform that is not only great for beginners or advanced anglers but also a perfect fit for someone like Connor who is 6 foot 5 and extremely athletic. I set Connor up with some fishing gear and a few fishing tips. Then we hit the water and proceeded to have an incredible time.

Between talking about our past, how our paths have crossed over the years when he was younger and of course, our love for the sport of fishing and hockey together. I was able hear stories about him being drafted, about his journey in the NHL and his hopes, dreams and goals for his future. For a full summer day in Michigan, I felt like I was just fishing with a buddy that I haven’t talked to in a long time. Fishing is one of those activities that allows you to really open up, have some peace and quiet and have time to reflect and have great conversation with other people. This is why I chose this platform to build my TV show off of and get to know people and share their stories. Connor absolutely loved his first experience in a kayak and I heard multiple times throughout the day of how surprised he was with the comfort, space and stability. Most people don’t view kayaks as being stable for someone his size, but trust me he was more than comfortable, and it would not surprise me to see him in a kayak more often moving forward.

After a great time on the water, we met up a few days later to hit the ice where I could live out my childhood dream of feeling like an NHL star goalie just like Connor. I suited it up in my goalie gear stepped on the ice and then I saw the four time NHL All-Star, Connor Hellebuyck in his full gear ready to give me some tips. As I scanned the ice, I also noticed there was two of the top Detroit Red Wings players on the ice ready to shoot on us. The younger version of myself could not believe what I was looking at and what I was about to do. I was truly living out one of my biggest dreams of my entire childhood. I got to play with the top NHL players and be on the ice and get tips from the number one goalie in the entire National Hockey League. Needless to say, I had an incredible time that I will never forget. Luckily this entire experience was immortalized on film so I can go back and relive those moments anytime I want the realization of my dreams coming true. almost like they are in a jar for me to open whenever I decide to make sure that it was real.

This episode aired in 2025 on all platforms with great reviews and a lot of positive feedback from the Hockey community. Now that we are in early 2026, the winter Olympics are underway this month. The USA women’s hockey team clinched the gold medal and sprung into victory. The men’s USA hockey team was right behind them going to the championship gold medal game against Canada. Can you guess who the goaltender was for the USA men’s Olympic hockey team? If you guessed Connor Hellebuyck then you were correct. My new fishing buddy and single time goalie coach is now on the biggest stage in the world competing for a gold medal with his fellow Americans. Since the game is over the day that I wrote this, we all know that team USA was victorious over Canada in overtime with the score 2-1. The star of the game, Connor Hellebuyck. With a bass on both sides of his custom USA helmet, he put fishing and hockey together just like I was able to do in one of the most amazing episodes I’ve ever done of my show. 

Connor Hellebuyck grew up in my neighborhood and we have crossed paths when he was a teenager, but being able to share the moments we had on the water and the ice together and then see him win the gold live on TV today was an incredible full circle moment. I saw somebody that I remember from high school Hockey make their way through professional hockey, winning every award possible as a goaltender, who shared their love of fishing with me, then they fulfilled one of their biggest dreams by winning a gold medal for team USA. Very similar to how I started my career to chase my dreams and to be able to live out some of my wildest adventures, with one of the best ones, including Connor Hellebuyck. Now I truly feel like he and I have both reached one of our biggest goals that we’ve had since we were kids. You never know where fishing can take you or following your dreams will lead you, but I will tell you the only chance you have of achieving your gold medal is to take that first step and believe in yourself.

- Mike Mckinstry