![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2252464637-1024x683.jpg\")
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The Panthers’ Sam Bennett will be joining Team Canada at the Olympics. Carmen Mandato \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Feb. 4, 2026Updated 11:49 am EST<\/p>\n
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 Sam Bennett had told his parents to cancel their flights to Italy. The Florida Panthers center and 4 Nations Face-Off participant had concluded that the 2026 Olympics were not in his future.<\/p>\n
A call on Tuesday informing him that he would be an injury replacement on Team Canada for the Tampa Bay Lightning\u2019s Anthony Cirelli turned everything upside down.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmazing day yesterday,\u201d Bennett said with a smile. \u201cYou go from being super disappointed and just thinking about what more I could have done or what I could have done differently. Just tried to play the rest of the year and not think about it too much. To get that call yesterday, it\u2019s really something I\u2019ve dreamt about as a kid and thought about every day since last year, putting on that jersey. To say it meant a lot to me is a huge understatement. Because it really meant the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bennett, 29, played a big role for Team Canada at the 4 Nations tournament. His highlight was fighting Brady Tkachuk after Panthers teammate Matthew Tkachuk challenged Brandon Hagel. Bennett also scored the game-tying goal in the final against the U.S., which set the stage for Connor McDavid\u2019s overtime winner.<\/p>\n
However, Bennett was not among the names, such as Florida teammate Brad Marchand, who made the roster on Dec. 31, 2025. It hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been pretty difficult,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cI was super disappointed. I tried not to let that affect my game or my life. Still tried to come to the rink with a smile every day and work as hard as I can. In the back of your head, you always think there\u2019s going to be a chance. But you never really know. Definitely fighting a lot of tough thoughts and battling, trying to move on from it, stick it out and stay with it. In the end, it worked out for me. I\u2019m very grateful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Canadian men\u2019s hockey team will start its Olympics with a preliminary game on Feb. 12 against the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Feb 4, 2026<\/p>\n
Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n
Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n
Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Panthers’ Sam Bennett will be joining Team Canada at the Olympics. Carmen Mandato \/ Getty Images Feb.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5102],"tags":[62,57,5141,5,54125,4,2602,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-445436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida-panthers","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-panthers","10":"tag-floridapanthers","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-olympics","15":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116013537500952285","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445436","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=445436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}