USA Hockey unveiled its highly anticipated Olympic Orientation Camp roster on Tuesday afternoon, naming the 44 players who will travel to Plymouth, Michigan, for the two-day event taking place from Aug 27-28.
Unlike with Team Canada, the Americans have brought along three Ottawa Senators.
It was already known that team captain Brady Tkachuk was going to be part of the team after he was listed as one of the first six members in June, and it was expected that star defenceman Jake Sanderson would follow him after donning the red, white, and blue at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Joining them as one of the 24 invited forwards is center Shane Pinto, who recently put himself on Team USA’s radar with a strong performance at the 2025 World Championship.
The training camp will not include any formal on-ice activities and will instead be largely an administrative and team-building event with general manager Bill Guerin and head coach Mike Sullivan.
Senators Have a Strong American Core
Since leaving Boston University to join the Senators in 2018-19, Tkachuk has been one of the NHL’s top young power forwards. He became the franchise’s youngest captain when he was given the ‘C’ in 2021-22, and the following season saw him put up a career-high 83 points. Last season, he wasn’t as present on the score sheet but still finished with 29 goals and 55 points, plus helped the team reach the playoffs for the first time in eight years.
His fiery passion was on full display at the 4 Nations Face-Off, where he led the Americans with three goals en route to a second-place finish behind Canada. Along with his brother, Matthew Tkachuk, he was also a major factor in setting the tone for the Canada-USA rivalry in their first matchup of the tournament.
Sanderson wasn’t initially supposed to be at the 4 Nations Face-Off, but after Quinn Hughes went down with an injury, he was called up to replace the former Norris Trophy winner and scored a goal in his two appearances at the tournament.
The Senators’ defender is well on the way to following Hughes as a future Norris finalist. Last season, he set new personal records with 11 goals and 57 points over 80 games. Should he make the final cut, he will be one of the few to have Olympic experience after suiting up for the Americans at the 2021-22 Games in Beijing, China.
Pinto may not have as much international experience…
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