By Joe Kozlowski
Sports Team Lead
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It’s a tale as old as time. Two siblings playing sports in the backyard, pretending that they’re teaming up to execute the game-winning play. An imaginary clock counts down and, inevitably, everything works out as the pretend crowd goes wild.
For Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will represent a chance to make that childhood dream a reality. Back in June 2025, they were two of the first six names on the U.S. men’s ice hockey team roster.
It’s hard enough to make the NHL, let alone be part of the elite group that’s chosen to represent the United States on the world stage. Doing it alongside your brother, however, is much more unlikely and, consequently, even more meaningful.
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“We’re lucky. It’s incredible,” Matthew Tkachuk, who has won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Florida Panthers, tells Newsweek. “It’s something that I think we always dreamed about, playing for the United States, when we were younger. Our dreams finally get to come true. It’s kind of surreal, but I think just above anything else, just a chance to get to play and hang out with each other for a few weeks is the highlight of it all. So we want to go over there and make it count and try to win gold.”
This isn’t the brothers’ first taste of the Olympics. Hockey fans will remember their dad, Keith Tkachuk, who spent nearly two decades in the NHL and suited up for the U.S. Olympic team on four occasions. His sons didn’t experience his silver medal win in 2002, but they did come along for the ride during the 2006 Games, which coincidentally also took place in Northern Italy. “We were too young for the Salt Lake one, but we went to the one in Italy, and it was really, really fun,” Matthew Tkachuk, 28, recalls. “I remembered the highlight for us was going to the [Olympic] Village and walking around and seeing some of the athletes in a bunch of different sports. And my dad did a great job of making sure we got pictures of everybody. So still great, great memories for us.
“I remember taking a picture with [Russian ice hockey players Alexander] Ovechkin and [Evgeni] Malkin when they were like 20 years old. So really, really cool.”
The brothers have had their own experience of national representation too. They each played for the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, which consists of the under-17 and under-18 national teams, both of which compete in international tournaments and against older opponents.
That not only hones the players’ skills but also plants the seed of national pride. “You get your first taste at the U.S. program. You play the [World] U-17 Challenge, U-18 World Championships versus other countries, and that’s when you kind of get that taste of patriotic pride and wanting to be the best. And obviously you’re trying to make the NHL, and I think the two dreams you have as a kid growing up are winning the Stanley Cup and winning the gold medal,” explains Brady Tkachuk, 26, who captains the Ottawa Senators.
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“I think that’s something that you always have as a goal. But you know, as you got older, you start to believe that it could be happening. So it’s really cool that we have this opportunity...to be able to represent our country again and such an amazing feeling and honor to be able to represent.”
Answering the Call
With NHL players back in the Olympic equation, the challenge becomes narrowing down the league’s talent into the group of players that makes the final cut.
It goes without saying that making the roster is an honor; the Tkachuks, however, had the additional distinction of being among the first six players to make the cut. And while that was a special piece of news, the brothers had different experiences learning about their places on the plane to Italy.
“I don’t remember exactly where I was,” Matthew Tkachuk says. “I think I was still in the playoffs. I think I might have even been in the finals. So kind of all a whirlwind. I don’t think I really allowed myself to take into [account] how big of a moment it was. When I got the call or when they told me in person with [Florida Panthers General Manager] Bill Zito at the rink, it was just like, ‘Alright, like, thank you. Like, this is amazing.’”
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But, even during the NHL postseason, there was a bit of extra excitement when he learned that he would be teaming up with his brother. “Once I heard that Brady also was going be one of the first six, I think that’s [when] it kind of set in and was just such an amazing day for our whole family.”
The younger Tkachuk got to enjoy the moment a bit more. “I definitely had a different reaction than Matthew because I know he was in the finals, but I was sitting at home. I was at my place,” he says. “I got the call.
I was like, ‘Holy cow. Going the Olympics.’ Texted my family and
I was with my family, too. And it made for a fun, fun night.
“So yeah, it was pretty cool. And just to be able to be a part of that, I was truly honored and maybe excited to get to work and, you know, get the process started.”
Going for the Gold
so what does that Olympic process look like? The NHL schedule will pause after February 5’s batch of games, allowing for participating players to head to the Olympics. There, the U.S. men’s team—including Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, Charlie McAvoy and Jack Eichel—will hit the ice for its first preliminary round game against Latvia on February 12.
That tight turnaround might seem like a challenge—players will have to leave behind their NHL coaches and teammates—but Bill Guerin, general manager of Team USA’s Olympic men’s ice hockey team and also general manager and president of hockey operations for the Minnesota Wild, is confident.
“We’re excited about our team,” said Guerin when the full roster was announced on January 2. “It was incredibly difficult for our management group to get to the final roster and that’s a credit to so many in our country, including all those at the grassroots level who help make our sport so strong.
“There’s nothing like the Olympics, and I know our players and staff will represent our country well and work hard to achieve our ultimate goal.”
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Matthew Tkachuk isn’t too concerned about the turnaround, either. “I don’t really know if it’s much of a challenge because every team has to deal with it. So it’s not like…one team’s got more of an advantage over the other,” he says.
“I think the 4 Nations [Face-Off tournament] helped us get familiar with each other. And I mean, we’re smart hockey players, and everybody on the team is a smart hockey player, so they watch a lot; probably know the guys’ tendencies that they’re playing with, playing against. I don’t think it’s as hard as people think. But the team that gels the quickest on and off the ice is probably the team that’s going to have the most success. So hopefully that’s us.”
“I liked the way we played. Everybody was together, everybody played the right way,” Guerin said in January about the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. “The biggest thing for me was the chemistry, and I think the chemistry allowed the guys to play the way that they did.”
During that tournament, the brothers not only skated on the same line but also famously took part in two of the three fights in the opening seconds of a game against Canada. While the Olympics won’t see those same fisticuffs, there’s a chance of the Tkachuks still being linemates in Italy.
“We’ll have to see,” Brady Tkachuk says. “Obviously we had a ton of fun, and I thought we had a lot of success the last go-around, but I think the great thing about it is the amount of high-end talent that’s going to be on the team top to bottom. You’re playing with some of the best players in the country. So, it’s an opportunity to learn from them, be a sponge and kind of assert your own game, within the game, and try to be as dominant as possible and help the team win.”
And that’s what it’s all about. Both brothers called out the Olympic Village as something they were excited to experience away from the rink, but Team USA is ultimately there to take care of business. “Playing with a lot of heart, a lot of passion, just a lot of pride wearing the USA colors and jerseys,” Matthew Tkachuk says when asked about the team’s identity. “So, I think everybody back home is going to be hopefully really proud of the team and what we represent and how we play.”
And while a medal drought—the U.S. men haven’t won ice hockey gold since the famous 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” when they beat the heavily favored Soviet Union, and haven’t even reached the Olympic podium since 2010—could add extra weight onto the squad’s collective shoulders, Brady Tkachuk only sees a chance to do something special.
“You’ve had moments in USA hockey history that’s kind of carved the path of the next generation. [It] started with the 1980 Miracle on Ice and then the 1996 World Cup [win] kind of affecting our generation. We have an opportunity to grow the game and be good ambassadors in USA hockey for hopefully the next generation of players. We’re looking in the past, we’re looking in the moment and…we’re really looking forward to that opportunity.”
Read more from Team USA's 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics hopefuls: Newsweek talks to figure skater Ilia Malinin and his squad, who are tipped for glory, skier Breezy Johnson tells Newsweek about returning to Cortina to face her fears, and Flavor Flav shares why he became the bobsled and skeleton squad hype man.
Joosep Martinson/International Skating Union/Getty
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