DALLAS \u2014 The Winter Olympics get underway next month, and there\u2019s extra anticipation surrounding this year\u2019s hockey tournament. After a 12-year hiatus, NHL players are making their return to the Olympic stage, and seven Dallas Stars were selected to represent their countries in Milano and Cortina, Italy.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Seven Dallas Stars players were selected for the Winter Olympics
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Jake Oettinger will make his Olympic debut for Team USA
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Jason Robertson did not make Team USA’s roster despite high performance<\/p>\n
Last week, Stars goalie Jake Oettinger got the call that he\u2019d been dreaming about his entire life.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it\u2019s, I mean, something I\u2019ve wanted my whole life, and to finally get that call was like one of the coolest things that\u2019s ever happened to me,\u201d said Oettinger.<\/p>\n
Oettinger has played on the world stage with Team USA before, but next month he\u2019ll make his Olympic debut.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is that times ten, and just to be, I mean, even in this conversation of guys that would be on that team is pretty crazy to me. I never thought I\u2019d be in this position,\u201d said Oettinger.<\/p>\n
With a ton of depth at his position, the Minnesota native will be competing for the number one spot in goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve built a resume that I can play well in big games, and so I\u2019m hoping that they give me an opportunity to get in one and then it\u2019s up to me to play well and you know try to not let them take me out of the net,\u201d said Oettinger.<\/p>\n
One Stars player who did not make Team USA\u2019s roster is Jason Robertson\u2014leaving hockey fans stunned by the snub. Robertson is first in points among American-born players in the NHL this season and is tied for fourth with 24 goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I thought that this year is different than last year,\u201d said Robertson. \u201cObviously last year I didn\u2019t think I was good enough, now I think I did, and it\u2019s their choice and their decision and that\u2019s it\u2026obviously it hurts your ego but I\u2019m not going to change the way I play, and I\u2019m happy to keep doing what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over in Europe, Team Finland will have no shortage of stars as Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Esa Lindell and Mikko Rantanen will suit up for the blue and white.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the biggest things you can do, represent your country in the sport you love to do, so I think it\u2019s always a pleasure to represent your country,\u201d said Hintz.<\/p>\n
The NHL will take a break for the duration of the Winter Olympics, but you can still watch a few of the Stars take to the ice as they try to bring home the gold to their respective countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2014 The Winter Olympics get underway next month, and there\u2019s extra anticipation surrounding this year\u2019s hockey tournament.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5117],"tags":[1250,1249,10977,196,147,5278,38819,50953,5,4,43,197,1871,10978,10979,5467],"class_list":{"0":"post-403655","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-stars","8":"tag-app-professional-sports","9":"tag-app-sports","10":"tag-ctv","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-stars","13":"tag-dallasstars","14":"tag-dfw-what-you-need-to-know","15":"tag-donna-stark","16":"tag-hockey","17":"tag-nhl","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-stars","20":"tag-texas","21":"tag-texas-editors-picks","22":"tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","23":"tag-vod"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115883110807069943","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403655","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=403655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}