He ranked third among all Americans in points last season, with nine points in five games against USA GM Bill Guerin\u2019s Minnesota Wild. He also captained Team USA to its first World Championship victory in 92 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means so much to me, and I\u2019ve worked tremendously hard,\u201d Keller said. \u201cAny time you can represent your country, it\u2019s the best feeling ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Guerin FaceTimed him with the news, Keller was getting ready for practice on Long Island and missed the calls \u2014 twice.<\/p>\n
\u201cBill Armstrong came in and was like, \u2018Check your phone.\u2019 I was hoping that was a good sign,\u201d Keller said.<\/p>\n
Team USA has not won gold at the Olympics since 1980 \u2014 the event that inspired the movie \u201cMiracle.\u201d Their last championship in a best-on-best tournament came at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, so the program is looking to end its losing skid.<\/p>\n
JJ Peterka, Team Germany<\/p>\n
Germany isn\u2019t exactly a superpower in the hockey world, so it enters every tournament as the underdog. That said, it did take advantage of the NHL players\u2019 absence in 2018 with a run to the gold medal game. It finished second to earn silver.<\/p>\n
But German hockey is on the rise. It has produced Leon Draisaitl, a bona fide top-five hockey player in the world. Tim St\u00fctzle, Moritz Seider and Mammoth forward JJ Peterka are also on the rise.<\/p>\n
Peterka is one of those guys who can score from anywhere. He beats goalies with range, and he can stickhandle in tight with the best of \u2018em. In the past, he was criticized for his defensive play, but that has taken massive strides this year, to the point where it\u2019s hardly a concern at all.<\/p>\n
Utah acquired him in a blockbuster trade with the Buffalo Sabres this summer, and he has been exactly what they\u2019ve needed him to be thus far.<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s top players are always a tight group. Many of them grew up playing together, and those who are separated by age gaps still end up on the same national team every year for the World Championship. Peterka recalls playing, at some point, with everyone on that team but Draisaitl.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlways playing against him is pretty hard, and not the most fun thing, so being on the other side will be great,\u201d Peterka said of Draisaitl.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/6ALDCBSQ4ZD4LDBW6MVJCIRHOM.JPG\")
Utah Mammoth right wing JJ Peterka (77) controls the puck while pressured by Colorado Avalanche right wing Valeri Nichushkin (13) and defenseman Cale Makar (8) during an NHL game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News Karel Vejmelka, Team Czechia<\/p>\n
Czechia has nearly three times as many goaltenders in the NHL as it has defensemen. Even so, Mammoth starting goalie Karel Vejmelka made the cut.<\/p>\n
\u201cVeggie\u201d had a rocky stretch earlier in the season, but he seems to have worked out the kinks over the last month or so. He thrives in high-pressure environments, and he seems to get even better when the crowd chants his name.<\/p>\n
Utah\u2019s record when he\u2019s in net has been much better than when he\u2019s not, and that\u2019s a testament to how important he is to the team.<\/p>\n
Vejmelka\u2019s international resume is a long one, which includes medals of every color: a gold and a bronze from the World Championship and a silver from the U18 World Juniors. Czechia\u2019s last Olympic gold came in 1998, and their last medal overall was a bronze in 2006.<\/p>\n
Olli M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4, Team Finland<\/p>\n
Olli M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4 is one of just a few 2014 Olympians returning for 2026.<\/p>\n
Finland is the reigning champion, having won gold in 2022. M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4 owns a bronze medal from his time at the 2014 Olympics.<\/p>\n
This season hasn\u2019t been M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4\u2019s strongest. Fresh off a three-year contract extension, he has dealt with frequent healthy scratches in addition to a seemingly minor injury. But he has been a steady presence his entire career, and that\u2019s what Finland expects out of him at the Olympics.<\/p>\n
M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4 filled a big role at the 4 Nations tournament last year, as injuries to several of Finland\u2019s top defensemen left the team scrambling. He played 20 minutes a game and recorded two points in three contests. Finland isn\u2019t expected to have the same injury misfortune this year, so M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4\u2019s role will likely be decreased \u2014 but he\u2019s a utility knife in the sense that he can play anywhere in the lineup and still make a difference.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OOREQ7FXIJEMXJXR5V6A4QXR7E.JPG\")
Utah Hockey Club defenseman Olli Maatta (2) spins away from Winnipeg Jets center Cole Perfetti (91) as the Utah Hockey Club and Winnipeg Jets play at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time since 2014, the NHL is allowing its players to compete in the Olympics. Four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5,3157,4,51,5290,232,5291,5289],"class_list":{"0":"post-398323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-hockey-club","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-news-feed-local","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-utah","12":"tag-utah-hc","13":"tag-utah-hockey-club","14":"tag-utahhc","15":"tag-utahhockeyclub"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115861713009702925","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}