five players will suit up to represent their home nations.<\/a> Sebastian Aho (Finland), Nikolaj Ehlers and Frederik Andersen (Denmark), and late addition Seth Jarvis (Canada) join Slavin as Hurricanes Olympians.<\/p>\nMaking it to Milan has been a long journey for Slavin.<\/p>\n
He grew up in Colorado as one of five siblings and was selected in the fourth round (No. 120) of the 2012 NHL Draft by the Hurricanes. But before starting his time as a pro, he played two years for Colorado College. He\u2019s the ninth former Colorado College Tiger to compete in the Olympics. He debuted for the Hurricanes on Nov. 18, 2015, finishing his rookie season with 20 points (two goals, 18 assists) in 63 games.<\/p>\n
Outside of playing, Slavin is a husband, father to two, and strong Christian. He\u2019s very outspoken on social media about his faith and how it has impacted how he has raised his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur faith is the most important thing to us in our life,\u201d Slavin said. \u201cIt\u2019s just the lens I see everything through. So whether that\u2019s playing the game of hockey or being a husband or father, it\u2019s all for the glory of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Jack]( "\\"2240185492-GI.JPG\\"")
Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils avoids a check from Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes during the first period of the game at Lenovo Center on October 09, 2025 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jared C. Tilton Getty Images <\/p>\n
Slavin hasn\u2019t played as much this season, due to injuries. However, his ice time has steadily increased, and he seems ready for Milan. He remains the Hurricanes\u2019 franchise record holder among defensemen in points, assists and shorthanded points (18).<\/p>\n
In the 2024-25 season, he made the United States roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off. While nothing is quite like the Olympic Games, that experience prepared him for what international competition looks like.<\/p>\n
\u201cI go back to last year with the Four Nations and just how awesome the hockey was playing against Canada, Sweden, and Finland,\u201d Slavin said. \u201cThose games were just intense. It was unbelievable hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now a childhood dream of Slavin\u2019s is becoming a reality. He\u2019ll have his parents and wife supporting him in Milan, as he aims to help Team USA capture a gold medal. It won\u2019t be an easy feat for the Americans, as they have managed to win gold only twice (1960 and 1980), with Canada dominating with nine golds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for the most part it was just excitement,\u201d he said after learning he had made the Olympic roster. \u201cMaybe a little bit of nerves for my wife having to fly overseas for the first time. My parents were there [when I found out], and it was something that they were excited for because obviously they\u2019ve been there for my whole journey. They were probably more excited for me than I was for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes athletes will be competitors rather than teammates for the Olympics and some will face off against one another when Denmark takes on Team USA on Saturday. Before they arrived in Italy, Slavin talked about how all of the Hurricane Olympians would share logistics info with one another.<\/p>\n
![\"Jaccob]( "\\"GettyImages-2240318048.jpg\\"")
Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes is introduced prior to the game against the New Jersey Devils at Lenovo Center on Oct. 9, 2025 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jared C. Tilton Getty Images <\/p>\n
But Slavin isn\u2019t focused on playing against friendly faces. He\u2019s just keeping his focus simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when it comes to playing against each other, once the puck drops, it\u2019s just going to be a hockey game.<\/p>\n
If he does get some downtime, he\u2019s hoping to see figure skating with his daughter and go to Lake Como. But his big goal remains the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re there to win Gold.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna Laible is a student with UNC Media Hub, a program with the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, reporting from the Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes is introduced prior to the game against the New Jersey Devils at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5107],"tags":[15232,194,29,5176,5,195,1238,15213,4,3878],"class_list":{"0":"post-455177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-hurricanes","8":"tag-2026-olympics","9":"tag-carolina","10":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","11":"tag-carolinahurricanes","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-hurricanes","14":"tag-jaccob-slavin","15":"tag-milan","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-team-usa-hockey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116055551799254208","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455177","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=455177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}