Jake Sanderson has played in 55 games with the Senators this season ammasing 35 points and five goals. He has been a fixture on the blueline logging an average of 24+ minutes of ice time per game. The former fifth overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft has 105 points in 211 career NHL games with the Senators.
His recent play may be what helped cement his spot on the Team USA roster with six points in his five February games.
This is also not the first time that the Senators defenseman has represented Team USA. This past May, Sanderson played for the United States in the 2024 IIHF World Championships. In eight games at the tournament, the 22-year-old defenceman tallied four assists.
In his first international play and a member of Team USA at the 2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, he assisted the game-winning goal in the semifinals against Finland and during the finals led all team members in ice time with 21 minutes and 41 seconds. The result was aa gold medal against Canada as he and his teammates knocked off Team Canada.
In the 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships its was announced that he would be the captain of Team USA. The squad where undefeated going into the quarterfinals before falling to Czechia.
Sanderson made his Olympic debut at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Sanderson appeared in one game for the United States, in which he recorded an assist.
