Jake Sanderson and Nikolas Matinpalo will compete for the United States and Finland, respectively, at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics in February. Both Senators defencemen were injury replacements for their teams at the 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago.
Sanderson has eight goals and 28 points this season and has appeared in all 39 games for the Sens. He appeared in two games at 4 Nations after replacing the injured Quinn Hughes, scoring in the tournament’s final against Canada.
“It’s such an honour,” said Sanderson on Friday morning. He added that Team USA general manager Bill Guerin called him a couple of days prior to the team being announced on Friday morning.
Sanderson previously competed at the Olympics in Beijing in 2022, though in the absence of NHL players due to COVID-19 complications. “To have the opportunity to go a second time, I’m just forever grateful,” said Sanderson.
“Obviously pretty crazy experience for me last time, just with COVID and going through an injury there and whatnot. But I think having that experience, having that taste the first time, it just fired me up. You’re around other people that are the best at their ability in the entire world. It’s just so cool, the atmosphere of being in the Olympic village and whatnot. I’m very excited.”
Sanderson will join Senators teammate Brady Tkachuk in Milan, who was named as one of the first six members of the team back in June. Tkachuk also competed for Team USA at 4 Nations, and tied for the team lead with three goals.
Meanwhile, Matinpalo will make it four Senators at the Olympics, in addition to Tkachuk, Sanderson, and Lars Eller, named as one of Team Denmark’s initial six players. Matinpalo appeared in three games for Team Finland at 4 Nations after replacing the injured Rasmus Ristolainen.
“It’s a little bit more special, I’m not like, [the second] back-up guy,” said Matinpalo on Friday morning, just a couple of hours after the announcement. He added that he was at the Senators’ gym working out when he received the call from Antti Pennanen on Boxing Day.
The 27-year-old Matinpalo went undrafted in the NHL, and was signed as a free agent by the Senators in May 2023. Over 73 career NHL games, he has one goal and eight assists. He also appeared in all six playoff games in Ottawa’s first round series against Toronto last spring.
Before heading to North America, Matinpalo played parts of five seasons in the Liiga, the top division of hockey in Finland.
“Definitely a dream of mine to get to the Olympics and put that national team jersey on, but four years ago, I was playing Finnish league, so I wasn’t really thinking about the Olympics at that time,” said Matinpalo, adding that it became a big goal for him this past summer.
Matinpalo said that he has fond memories of watching Team Finland compete in past Olympics, including at Turin in 2006, where the Finns lost to Team Sweden in the gold medal game.
“Back home, it’s a big thing, everybody is watching those games, so, yeah, it’s amazing to be a part of that team.”
Hockey at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics will begin on Wednesday, Feb. 11, and wrap up with the gold medal game on Sunday, Feb. 22.
