OTTAWA — Ottawa Senators fans might feel conflicted while watching the Winter Olympics.
Cheering for Canada is easy, but rooting against Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson will be hard.
The good news is that last season, both Tkachuk and Sanderson thrived playing for Team USA — they both scored in the gold medal game at the 4 Nations Face-Off — and the experience gained from the red, white and blue bled to the Senators’ red and black for the rest of the 2024-25 campaign. Tkachuk was a menace in the playoffs and Sanderson finished the regular season with 21 points in 24 games before scoring an overtime winner in the playoffs.
However, many Sens fans may have a traumatic response when they think of their star players heading to the Olympics, as they're likely to remember Dominik Hasek’s season-ending injury in the 2006 Turin Olympics, which hobbled a potential Cup run for the Senators that season.
In Milan, they will be hoping for something more like last year’s 4 Nations, though admittedly, Tkachuk himself got injured in that tournament too and took a while to return to form.
Senators fans' Olympic dreams are a Canadian gold medal... and a clean bill of health for Sanderson and Tkachuk.
For Tkachuk, the Olympics carry a heavier weight, with it being a family affair.
Father Keith played in the Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002, and took home a silver medal. But Brady is shooting for Olympic gold, which he hopes to win alongside his brother Matthew.
Surely, Keith wouldn’t mind Brady and Matthew one-upping him in the medal category.
Last year, the two brothers took the hockey world by storm and became national figures south of the border — a significant feat for hockey players. The “Bash Brothers” breakout performance on the international stage at the 4 Nations, including their infamous fights nine seconds into their first game against border rivals Canada, made them household names.
“I’m very honoured, and I’m very excited to see who I’m going to battle with,” said Tkachuk, looking forward to the Games.
Another Senator heading to Milano Cortina is Finnish defenceman Nikolas Matinpalo, and the Senators' captain is already raring to face his teammate at the Olympics.
“Brady every day has told me about that one goal he scored out on the ice (against me at the 4 Nations), (even) this morning," said Matinpalo.
Unfortunately, Tkachuk and Sanderson won’t be bringing another teammate, Shane Pinto, whose breakout season was not sufficient to crack a star-studded Team USA.
Sanderson has actually been to the Olympics before, in 2022 in Beijing, when NHLers were not allowed to compete. Sanderson was a star with the University of North Dakota at the time. He wasn’t yet old enough to drink alcohol in North Dakota and, of course, had not yet set foot in an NHL game.
“Pretty crazy experience for me last time, just with COVID,” said Sanderson. “I think having that experience, having that taste for the first time, it fired me up (for 2026)."
He also says there is “a little bit of unfinished business for our U.S. group, just with what happened last February."
Last season, Sanderson admitted to Sportsnet.ca that the looming 4 Nations tourney weighed him down early in the NHL season. But the competition invigorated him: “It was definitely an eye-opening experience,” he said.
Sanderson also picked up a simple but important lesson while suiting up at the 4 Nations.
"Why the best players in the league are at the top every single night is because they're the most consistent players. That's something I'm still striving for today," he said.
Sanderson is on pace for career highs in goals and points this season, while defensively, he's remained outstanding, sitting fourth in the NHL with 2.03 expected goals allowed at five-on-five when he’s on the ice (minimum 500 minutes played). He went from an injury replacement at the 4 Nations to a lock for this Olympic team.
For Sanderson, a best-on-best Olympic experience could help vault him to another level. He says he doesn’t yet know what his role will be in Milan but at 4 Nations he was a significant contributor.
Senators fans who watch Sanderson every day already know that his level resembles that of the two best defencemen in team history: Erik Karlsson and Zdeno Chara. The Olympic stage could potentially thrust Sanderson into the hockey limelight, as Tkachuk’s performance at the 4 Nations did.
One tidbit that may make Canadian fans squirm — especially if the U.S. were to win gold — is that both of Sanderson’s parents, including his father Geoff, who played 1,104 career games in the NHL, are Canadian.
“I spent a little bit of time living in Calgary, but obviously I was born in the U.S., playing for the National Development Program. So yeah, no real confusion for me,” said Sanderson about choosing Team USA over Canada.
Tkachuk also has a Canadian lineage: his mother Chantal is from Winnipeg.
One advantage Tkachuk might have in Milan is that the rink will be three feet shorter than the NHL rink. That could benefit a slower, more physical player like him.
“I'm one of the few that's going to like the change, I guess. But yeah, obviously won't know until we get there and see if it really is a difference maker or not,” said Tkachuk.
At the 4 Nations, the Tkachuk brothers infamously created a group chat that foreshadowed their bruising fight seconds into the initial game against Canada — a moment in time that will be seared into hockey consciousness forever. It led to Brandon Hagel, in Canada’s golden glory after winning the 4 Nations, taking a shot at the Tkachuk group chat.
“We're out there playing for a flag, not the cameras," said Hagel. “We don't need any group chats going on.”
According to Sanderson, Team USA doesn’t have a team group chat for the Olympics… for now.
The bright lights will be focused on two Senators at the 2026 Olympics, and don’t be surprised if their stars shine brighter when they come back to Ottawa.
