SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Utah Mammoth team captain Clayton Keller and Defenseman Olli Määttä are headed to Italy to compete for gold in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
The NHL team announced on Friday that Keller was selected to represent Team USA while Määttä was selected to represent Team Finland in the upcoming Games.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games officially begin on Feb. 6 and run through Feb. 22. The Men’s competition for ice hockey is scheduled to begin with preliminary rounds on Feb. 11.
Finland is scheduled to open the tournament with a preliminary round game against Slovakia. The United States starts its fight for a gold medal on Feb. 12 against Latvia.
This is the first time the NHL is sending players to the Olympic Games since 2024, according to Utah Mammoth. The tournament will feature 12 nations that will play through three preliminary-round games. Qualifying teams will advance to a single-elimination bracket will culminate with a gold medal match-up on Feb. 22.
Both Keller and Määttä are no strangers to representing their country on the international stage, though Määttä is a little more familiar with Olympic success.
Keller, a 27-year-old Missouri native, has represented the United States in numerous tournaments, including three IIHF World Championships. He has won gold medals at the Under-18 World Championship in 2015, the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship, and the IIHF World Championship in 2025. In the most recent gold medal victory, Keller captained Team USA’s victory that ended a 92-year gold medal drought at the tournament for the country.
Meanwhile, Määttä, a native of Jyväskylä, Finland, competed in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. There, he helped lift Finland to a bronze medal behind a 5-0 victory over Team USA. Määttä has also won a silver medal at the 2021 IIHF World Championship – a tournament he has played in three times.
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