{"id":448264,"date":"2026-02-06T04:40:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T04:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448264\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T04:40:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T04:40:30","slug":"leafs-captain-matthews-excited-to-finally-get-olympic-chance-with-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448264\/","title":{"rendered":"Leafs\u2019 captain Matthews excited to finally get Olympic chance with United States"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

United States captain Austin Matthews speaks with the media following practice at the 4 Nations Face-Off in Brossard, Que. last year.Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Auston Matthews still remembers his first time seeing the red, white and blue flash across the screen. <\/p>\n

A young hockey player with big dreams growing up in Arizona, he was six years old when Miracle hit theatres in February 2004. <\/p>\n

The film recounts how the underdog United States upset the powerhouse Soviet Union in the medal round at the 1980 Olympic tournament. Mike Eruzione put the puck past Vladimir Myshkin for the winning goal in Lake Placid, N.Y., to clinch what would become known as the \u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d on the way to an improbable gold. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven today, it still kind of gives you chills,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cA very special moment.\u201d <\/p>\n

The United States hasn\u2019t topped the podium on the men\u2019s side at a Games since that team of college players stunned the dominant \u201cBig Red Machine\u201d before besting Finland to top the podium some 46 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelief that the U.S. could generate great players and compete on stages like the Olympics,\u201d Matthews said of the impact. \u201cJump-started a lot of amazing things.\u201d <\/p>\n

The star centre is looking to help pen another chapter in American sporting lore with the NHL\u2019s return at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games after the league skipped the 2018 tournament for financial reasons before 2022 plans were scuttled by COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cA huge honour and privilege to be able to represent your country,\u201d said Matthews, who captains the Toronto Maple Leafs and led the NHL with 69 goals in 2023-24. \u201cTalking to people that have been able to compete in it, it\u2019s definitely something special.\u201d <\/p>\n

The U.S. won silver in both 2002 and 2010 with its NHLers, but players from Matthews\u2019 generation have yet to taste the full international stage until now.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

United States captain Austin Matthews skates past goaltender Connor Hellebuyck during practice at the 4 Nations Face-Off in Brossard, Que. last year.Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot,\u201d said the 28-year-old. \u201cThe kind of opportunity not many people get.\u201d <\/p>\n

Matthews and the Americans will also be looking for revenge after falling just short at last February\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off \u2013 an appetizer ahead of the league\u2019s Olympic reboot \u2013 to Canada in a spine-tingling final.<\/p>\n

U.S. head coach Mike Sullivan saw both a fierce competitor and quiet leadership from his captain.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe leads by example in a lot of ways, but his influence is significant on his teammates because of his ability to influence the game,\u201d said the New York Rangers bench boss. \u201cHe hit a lot of posts \u2026 sometimes you can\u2019t always control whether it goes in.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what you can control is the opportunity to get the looks both offensively, and then a diligence to play on the defensive side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthews liked what he saw from the Americans at 4 Nations as the men\u2019s program looks to join the women atop the Olympic podium after they took gold in 2002 and 2018 to go along with silver medals in 2002, 2010, 2014 and 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cohesiveness that we had throughout that tournament, the way that we played as a team, it didn\u2019t matter what role you had,\u201d said the former Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP. \u201cBuy into your role and do what\u2019s best for the team, and I thought everybody did that. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a sign of a great team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthews didn\u2019t bite when asked about political tensions expected at the Olympics with the U.S., Canada and much of Europe currently at odds on several issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re kind of aware of it,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s only so much that you can control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthews will potentially face a couple of his Maple Leafs teammates \u2013 William Nylander and Oliver Ekman-Larsson \u2013 if the U.S. ends up facing Sweden in the knockout round.<\/p>\n

\u201cWeird and interesting going up against teammates or guys that you\u2019re pretty close with,\u201d he said. \u201cGo out there and do what you have to do.\u201d <\/p>\n

Matthews is also looking forward to getting to the Olympic village and seeing how other athletes operate, although these Games are more spread out than most, with only hockey, figure skating and speedskating located in Milan, and other sports scattered across Northern Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have your process, and you know what you go through and the grind that it is,\u201d he said. \u201cYou get to see, up close and personal, what it\u2019s like to play different sports at that high of a level, and what they\u2019ve gotta go through. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll get to share different perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthews and some members of the U.S. squad are part of an NBC Olympics commercial featuring actor Jon Hamm that pokes fun at the rivalry with Canada coming off the heated 4 Nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t really my idea,\u201d he said sheepishly, while also confirming Hamm wasn\u2019t present when the players shot their portion. \u201cAll done in fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 30-second spot did, however, state in jest that bringing home \u201cCanadian tears\u201d would be the biggest prize of all.<\/p>\n

So, who will be crying after the Olympic final?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: United States captain Austin Matthews speaks with the media following practice at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[1018,1001,1019,967,991,1020,19,990,1008,1009,1004,992,989,1014,1016,1013,1007,1000,1030,993,994,1006,5,1002,1003,997,1021,20,5172,998,1025,1026,4,1028,1023,1027,786,1024,995,1011,1012,333,1010,1022,86,1015,66,31,5171,1017,1005,999,996,1029],"class_list":["post-448264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-hockey","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-maple-leafs","tag-mapleleafs","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-nhl","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-torontomapleleafs","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448264","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=448264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}