Florida Panthers forward Brad Marchand is hopeful to do something next year that has been on his checklist for a long time.
The 37-year-old NHL veteran and future Hockey Hall of Famer wants to suit up for Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
Marchand was one of 26 forwards and 42 total players who were invited to Hockey Canada’s Orientation Camp last month in Calgary.
He was also one of five Panthers players to receive an invite, along with forwards Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe, and defenseman Aaron Ekblad.
The last time NHL players participated in the Olympic Games was in 2014 in Sochi.
Canada won gold, but Marchand was not there.
Like this year, Marchand was also part of that team’s orientation camp, but that was as far as his Olympic dream would go that year.
To say he’s been feeling the hunger to represent his country and compete for a gold medal in the time since would be an understatement.
“There’s nothing I want more than to play for the Olympic team,” Marchand said during last month’s camp in Calgary, per NHL.com. “That drive has been there since I went to that (orientation) camp in (2013) and didn’t make that team. Since then, it’s been my goal, my driving force every year, every summer. That’s why I was so disappointed in ’18 and then the next one. Everything I have done for the last 12 years has been for this tournament.”
Now fully healthy and fresh off an incredible run with Florida during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as well as a strong showing for Team Canada at February’s 4 Nations Face-Off, Marchand is ready to make his Olympic dream come true.
If and when the opportunity comes, Marchand understands just how rare and unique a position it would be for him to find himself.
“I think you really understand how fragile these opportunities are,” he said. “They’re not a given. Even when you think you’re going to go, it doesn’t mean you’re going. The last one we thought we were going for sure. It’s the end of December, a month and a half before we’re leaving, and it gets pulled from us. The one before that, someone’s decision allows us to not go again. You could have an unbelievable NHL career and play for a very long time and not have an opportunity to play in these games.”
LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS – FLORIDA
Sam Bennett shares Stanley Cup with Broward Humane Society, home to his Benny’s Buddies charity
Panthers Captain Becomes Co-Owner Of Major League Pickleball Team
REPORT: Panthers Bring In Forward and Defender On PTOs
REPORT: Panthers Sign Veteran Winger To PTO
All 4 Florida Panthers 2025 postseason series clinching games to be re-aired by Scripps Sports
Photo caption: Feb 17, 2025; Boston, MA, USA; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team Canada forward Brad Marchand (63) skates during the first period in a 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey game against Team Finland at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images)
Read the full article here
