Jake Sanderson Scores in NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off Championship, but Team USA Falls to Canada 3-2
Sanderson was born in Whitefish and raised there until his family moved to Calgary, Alberta when he was 12
By Mike Kordenbrock
His performance at one point eliciting shouts of “Whitefish, Montana!” from the ESPN broadcast team, Jake Sanderson came through for Team USA in a critical moment during the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament Championship Thursday night when he scored the American side’s second goal and gave his team its only lead of the match.
Sanderson’s offensive contribution was a welcome bright spot for the 22-year-old Ottawa Senators defenseman, who was among the last players added to the Team USA roster. But despite the efforts of Sanderson and his teammates, the first championship in the NHL’s new best-on-best international tournament format ended in a 3-2 overtime win for Canada.
In the back-and-forth matchup, Canada scored first off the stick of Nathan MacKinnon a little under 5 minutes into the first period. About 12 minutes later, USA’s Brady Tkachuck answered, drawing the score even at 1-1.
Sanderson’s goal came after 7 minutes had transpired in the second period. Team USA went on the offensive, beginning with a deep shot from defenseman Zach Werenski, which ricocheted back in front of the goal and set off a brief, but chaotic sequence.
Team captain Auston Matthews quickly followed with an attempted pass in front of goal, which was deflected back to Sanderson, who had been cruising off the left side roughly 12 feet back from the front edge of the crease. When the puck bounced his way, Sanderson quickly and efficiently delivered a strike between two defenders and into an empty space about halfway between the right skate of Canadian goalie Jordan Binnington and the edge of the goal.
After the puck went in Sanderson threw both his arms up in celebration before bringing them back down to his sides as his teammates mobbed him in a group hug in front of the Canadian goal. As the celebration continued, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird” started blasting over the TD Garden speakers. The goal, by the first Montana-born player to compete in the NHL, was also the first and only goal by a U.S. defenseman during the tournament.
Sanderson was born in Whitefish and raised there until his family moved to Calgary, Alberta when he was 12, and his parents still own a home in Whitefish. His father, Geoff Sanderson is a retired Canadian hockey player whose NHL career spanned 17 seasons. Jake Sanderson was taken by the Ottawa Senators fifth overall in the 2020 NHL draft out of the University of North Dakota. So far in his NHL career he has played 211 games and tallied 19 goals and 86 assists.
During an in-game interview with ESPN’s Emily Kaplan before the start of the third period, Sanderson was asked to describe his reaction to the goal.
“I kind of just blacked out,” he said. “You know, great play from the guys who got the puck to the net, and you know, I think I just got lucky there.”
Sanderson’s 19:44 time on ice during the championship was his most playing time throughout the tournament. He did not see any playing time until the third game, when Team USA faced Sweden in a game that ended in a 2-1 loss.
“These guys are some of the best players in the world,” Kaplan said. “You’re 22 years old. Describe your mentality of your role during this tournament.”
“Yeah, whether I was playing or not, just be positive and if I was in just keep it simple and, you know, use my feet,” Sanderson replied.
He also told Kaplan that when he first found out he was going to be on the roster “I was shaking I was so fired up” and that he was “truly blessed to be here with these guys.”
As previously reported by The Athletic, Sanderson canceled a tropical vacation to join the team after defenseman and Vancouver Canucks Captain Quinn Hughes bowed out of the tournament because of an oblique injury. Still, even this week there were reports that Team USA was trying to bring Hughes back onto the roster.
With defenseman Charlie McAvoy recently hospitalized by an infection stemming from a shoulder injury sustained during the tournament, Team USA earlier this week began the process of trying to add Hughes to the roster as an emergency standby, The Athletic reported Wednesday. Head Coach Mike Sullivan even went so far as to announce that Hughes would be coming to Boston, but based on The Athletic’s reporting, the Canucks would not medically clear him to play, which ended this last-ditch effort.
In an article published Friday speculating on what the Team USA roster could look like for the 2026 Olympics, ESPN senior NHL writer Greg Wyshynski listed Sanderson as one of his defenseman “maybes.” He noted that after Sanderson replaced McAvoy, Sullivan called him “an emerging star.” The head coach further described Sanderson as a mobile player who defends well and has a high hockey IQ. “I think he has an offensive dimension to his game. He’s really good at joining the rush. We really like his game. He’s a terrific player.”
Sanderson and the Ottawa Senators return to regular season NHL play this Saturday when they host the Montreal Canadiens.