MILAN — During a long bus ride, Zeev Buium flicked through the music on his phone.
The U.S. Hockey defenseman is looking for the perfect goal song for Team USA to use at the 2025 World Junior Championship.
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Previous USA Hockey teams have transformed a range of pop, classic rock and electronic music anthems into high-energy goal celebrations. Buim said he had discussions with his teammates to try to find “something less generic, something more meaningful, something we haven’t done before.”
The song that Buium keeps repeating is the 1973 chart-topping rock song written by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Lukas Olvestad, Buium’s teammate at the University of Denver, attracted him by repeatedly blasting the song loudly through speakers during house parties.
“How about ‘Free Bird’?” Buium asked his American teammates on the bus, wondering how they felt about a song that was released more than a quarter-century before they were born.
“Luckily, the kids loved it,” Buim said.
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At Buium’s request, USA Hockey started playing the song at 4:45 to highlight Free Bird’s signature hard rock guitar solo rather than its soft bluesy intro. The unique goal-scoring anthem, which was played non-stop during Team USA’s gold-medal run at the World Junior Championships, earned rave reviews from U.S. hockey players and fans alike, like “Party in the U.S.A.,” “Chelsea Daggers” or “Another One Bites the Dust,” which is rarely the case.
More than a year later, “Free Bird” has moved from the World Youth Championship 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 stadium loudspeakers whenever a goal is scored.
During Milan’s seven-game winning streak, the gold-medal-winning U.S. women’s soccer team scored thirty-three times. On 33 occasions, the U.S. crowd responded by pumping their fists, waving flags, chanting “USA,” dancing in their seats or miming playing guitar, although the song was barely audible over the din after Megan Keller’s overtime goal helped the U.S. beat Canada for gold.
“Free Bird” soundtracked 18 of the U.S. men’s goals, including Quinn Hughes’ game-winner in overtime against Sweden on Wednesday night. The U.S. men’s basketball team will get a chance to face off against the Freebirds multiple times in Friday night’s semifinals in Milan against Slovakia.
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“This is all player-driven,” said Melissa Katz, USA Hockey’s communications manager. “After how popular it was [World Junior Championships]no doubt about keeping the momentum of that goal song going. From our Under-18s team to the Olympic team, they have all embraced the ‘Freebirds’ over the past year. “
The enthusiasm for “Free Bird” can be gauged by the variety of hockey-themed “Play Free Bird” T-shirts, hats and other merchandise available for purchase. Or you could check out the social media reaction to Keller’s golden goal.
“Someone turned the sound of ‘Freebirds’ all the way up,” one fan wrote on Twitter, alongside three American flag emojis.
“Injecting it into my veins as ‘Freebirds’ explodes in the background,” another wrote, alongside a slow-motion video of Keller’s epic goal.
U.S. forward Joy Dunn said it was a no-brainer that she and her teammates voted to use “Free Bird” as their goal song this year, given the fan reaction.
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“We love the song, we hear the fans going crazy, and we’re so grateful,” Dunn said. “That’s for sure, it creates a great atmosphere to play.”
U.S. forward Brady Tkachuk agreed, though he admitted he appreciated the Freebirds celebrations more in the stands than on the bench.
“It’s hard to hear on the ice,” Tkachuk said, “but when we got to the women’s game, I got chills all over.”
For Buium, hearing “Free Bird” at the Four Nations and the Olympics was also exciting. Like Tkachuk, he said it gives him “chills” to see fans getting into it or seeing “Play Free Bird” on their chests in the crowd.
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When asked why he thought the song fit so perfectly with USA Hockey’s goal song, Buim said, “I think it’s because it represents what America is all about. We’re all free birds.”
“Hopefully it lasts for a long time,” he added.