Jack Hughes, Frankel throw out 1st pitch at Yankees game

Jack Hughes has been on a whirlwind since scoring the gold-medal winning goal for Team USA against Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics. 

He appeared on "The Today Show," "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," "Saturday Night Live," and "The Pat McAfee Show."

And through it all, he always wondered if he would get the chance to throw out the first pitch at a New York Yankees game. 

That chance came on Friday, when the New Jersey Devils forward got to live out his dream before the Yankees defeated the Miami Marlins, 8-2, in their home opener at Yankee Stadium. 

"Like when everything went down, this was like the one thing I was wondering if it would happen," Hughes said in a press conference in quotes provided by the Associated Press. "I knew a lot of things were coming, but I was like, this is the one thing, I was always like wishing, slash, hoping for, and then when I was like, Opening Day. Like wow, that's, that's almost too much, man. That's a lot of pressure."

Hughes wasn't the only Olympic hero to throw out the first pitch on Friday as Aerin Frankel, the goalie for the U.S. women's team which also brought gold home from Milan, joined him. 

Hughes threw a perfect strike to infielder Ben Rice while Frankel delivered her pitch to catcher J.C. Escara. 

"It's been awesome," said Frankel, who plays for Boston of the PWHL. "So much fun being at the Olympics with the men's team, getting to support them, watch them win a gold medal. First time in history, the women's and men's teams have done that together. So to be able to continue the celebration here in New York for Opening Day was so much fun."

Hughes and his brother Quinn Hughes, a defenseman for the Minnesota Wild, appeared with U.S. women's team captain Hillary Knight when they were on with Fallon, and the three were joined on SNL by Megan Keller, who scored the gold-medal winning goal in overtime, also against Canada.  

"Yeah, it's been great," Hughes said. "Me and Quinn have done some pretty cool things and got to share it with Hillary, Megan and obviously me and Aerin do this now. So, just pretty cool. Both teams getting recognized and some really cool things. And special opportunities we've had and I'm sure there's a bunch of other things coming through the pipeline down the years."

Hughes said he played baseball growing up, and also practiced his first pitch last week when the Devils were in Dallas to play the Stars. His brother Luke Hughes, a defenseman for the Devils, and his father Jim, were also on hand Friday.

Hughes said on Friday he got to talk with Yankees superstar Aaron Judge, who was the captain of Team USA for the World Baseball Classic. He also said he's a Yankees fan and goes to games in the offseason.

Frankel said she got to catch up with Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler, who is a fellow alum of Northeastern University.

"It was just fun being in the locker room," Hughes said. "We're in the dugout, and then we go under, and my buddies are throwing me batting practice. Just fun. I could hang in the clubhouse all day. Those guys are good guys, so that was fun."