Winter Olympics 2026: How 'Free Bird' became the anthem to USA hockey

MILAN — Midway through a long bus ride, Zeev Buium occupied himself scrolling through the music on his phone.

The American ice hockey defenseman was searching for the perfect goal song for the U.S. team to use at the 2025 World Junior Championships.

Previous U.S. hockey teams had converted an array of pop hits, classic rock songs and techno bangers into high-energy goal celebration anthems. Buium said that he and his teammates had discussed trying to find “something less generic, something more meaningful, something we hadn’t done before.”

The song that Buium kept coming back to was a chart-topping 1973 rock anthem by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Buium’s teammate at the University of Denver, Lukas Olvestad, hooked him on it by incessantly blaring it from his speakers during house parties.  

“How about ‘Free Bird’?” Buium asked his U.S. teammates on the bus, not knowing how they would feel about a song released more than a quarter century before any of them were born.

“Luckily the boys liked it,” Buium said.

At Buium’s request, USA Hockey started the song at the 4:45 mark to highlight Free Bird’s iconic hard-rocking guitar solo rather than its mellow, bluesy opening. The distinctive goal song played nonstop during the the U.S. team’s run to a gold medal at those World Junior Championships, earning enthusiastic reviews from American hockey players and fans in the way that “Party in the USA,” “Chelsea Dagger” or “Another One Bites the Dust” seldom did. 

More than a year later, “Free Bird” has gone from World Juniors to the Olympic stage. The U.S. men’s and women’s national teams both voted to adopt the Lynyrd Skynyrd anthem as the song that blasts over the arena loudspeakers whenever they score a goal. 

Thirty-three times, the gold-medal-winning U.S. women found the back of the net over the course of seven consecutive victories in Milan. Thirty-three times, American crowds responded by pumping fists, waving flags, chanting U-S-A and dancing or mimicking playing the guitar in their seats, though the song was barely audible above the din after Megan Keller’s overtime goal lifted the U.S. to gold over Canada.

“Free Bird” has been the soundtrack to 18 goals from the U.S. men, including Quinn Hughes’ overtime game winner against Sweden on Wednesday night. The American men will have the chance to cue up “Free Bird” a few more times when they face Slovakia in the semifinals on Friday night in Milan. 

“This is all player-driven,” USA Hockey manager of communications Melissa Katz said. “After how much it caught on during the [World Junior Championships], it was a no brainer to keep the momentum rolling with that goal song. From our under-18 teams to our Olympic teams, they’ve embraced ‘Free Bird’ over the last year.”

The enthusiasm for “Free Bird” can best be measured by the assortment of hockey-themed “Play Free Bird” T-shirts, hats and other merchandise available to purchase. Or you can check out the social media response to Keller’s golden goal.

“Someone turn Free Bird up as loud as it can go,” tweeted one fan, alongside three American flag emojis.  

“Inject this into my veins while Free Bird blasts in the background,” another wrote, alongside slow-motion video of Keller’s epic goal. 

American forward Joy Dunne said that it was a no-brainer for her and her teammates to vote to use “Free Bird” as their goal anthem this year given the fan response. 

“We love the song, we hear the fans going crazy and we definitely appreciate it,” Dunne said. “It makes for an awesome atmosphere to play in, that’s for sure.”

American forward Brady Tkachuk echoes that, though he admits he appreciated the “Free Bird” celebrations better from the stands than from the bench. 

“It’s tough to hear on the ice,” Tkachuk said, “but when we were at the women’s game, it gave me chills.” 

It has also been a thrill for Buium to hear “Free Bird” at the 4 Nations Face-off and the Olympics. Like Tkachuk, he said he “got chills” watching the fans get into it or seeing people in the crowd with “Play Free Bird” across their chests. 

Asked why he thinks it’s such a perfect fit as USA Hockey’s goal song, Buium said, “I think it’s because it represents what the U.S. is all about. We’re all Free Birds.” 

“Hopefully it’s something that sticks for a long, long time,” he added.