00:00Savannah Kumoller here with STARS goaltender Jake Ottinger who will represent Team USA in the
00:09upcoming 2026 Winter Games. Jake are you so excited to represent the United States? Yeah I'm
00:16super excited. Obviously never done it on this stage before and I mean the Olympics is as big
00:22as it gets so just excited to get over there and get with all the guys and kind of see you know
00:27what everything's gonna be like it's gonna be awesome. When you think of the Olympics is there
00:30a moment in history that you go back to whether that be in men's hockey or is there a certain
00:36player that you always think of when it's the Olympics? Yeah I think for me I mean I've seen
00:42Miracle on Ice like a thousand times it's my favorite movie so you know when I you know had
00:48the when I got the call about making the Olympics that was like the first thing I thought of growing
00:52up watching that movie with my mom a thousand times and you know she would be very proud that
00:57I made this team so kind of that's what it brought me to and grew up watching that and you know Jim
01:03Craig and and then I think Ryan Miller for me that was kind of the my peak hockey fandom you know 2010
01:09when he was unbelievable for USA so those two moments kind of what I think of. And then speaking
01:15of family will your family be attending the games to watch you play? Yeah they're all coming I think
01:20there's like 12 or so of them so yeah I'm just super lucky to have you know family that will
01:26travel around the world to support me and they've been like that my whole whole career whole hockey
01:30career so very lucky to have that for them and hopefully I can you know get to play in front
01:36of them for Team USA would be pretty special for all of us. Now a big part of the Olympics and
01:40especially in your position is the goaltending masks. Have you started creating any mask and is there
01:47any specific patriotic you know tie to this? Yeah yeah totally I think yeah it's already done I'm
01:54pretty sure so I have a big big bald eagle on it kept it pretty simple and I collect all my masks
02:01now so I have like 15 of them and I think this one's going to be you know when it's all said and
02:06done I think this is probably going to be one of my favorites just you know can kind of go back and
02:09you know on the highlights of my career when it's over it'll be you know making the Olympics will be
02:13one of the big ones so hopefully you know there's a medal sitting along next to it and we'll see but
02:19yeah that's always a fun part of you know playing for Team USA you get to you know wear different
02:23gear make new masks then get to mix it up from your Dallas stuff so it's pretty cool. We're excited
02:28to see the mask with Team USA specifically you played with a lot of these guys last year with
02:34Four Nations it's kind of rinse and repeat the same type of teammates what do you look at as far as
02:39the depth of this team when you're assessing the other competition? Yeah I think it's pretty
02:43incredible I think I think a lot of it has to do with U.S. national program I'm not sure how many
02:49on this team are from there but I know the Four Nations there was you know 80% it felt like so
02:54just with how deep USA hockey is now how many great players are I mean I think you look at a lot of these
03:00teams and it feels like a NHL all-star roster so you know just going to come down to you know
03:06players stepping up in big moments making huge plays and I mean when you look at the teams on
03:10paper they're all stacked everyone's got you know elite skill great D great goaltending so it's just
03:15going to come down to little things and yeah just to to be a part of that group's really special.
03:21Does that give you a lot of confidence in the net having the depth that this team does?
03:25Yeah for sure I think yeah I mean you look at the guys in front of you I mean these are the best
03:30players in the world so I should make my job pretty easy just gotta you know do my job make a few
03:35big saves and yeah just try to do it I can help this team win but yeah when you have you know
03:40NHL all-star defenseman in front of you that it makes your life pretty easy. Is there already a
03:45Team USA group chat going? There's not no nothing nothing too crazy yet so I'm sure that'll come in
03:51the next few weeks I think we have like a call with everyone to kind of just lay the land a little
03:55bit and but a lot of guys know each other texted a few guys right when we all found out and stuff so
04:00happy to be playing with a lot of these guys and you know it's a once in a lifetime
04:03opportunity so to to get to play with you know guys I played with in college or guys I've been
04:08friends with for a long time is really special too. Now let's talk about Italy have you ever been
04:12before? I have I did my honeymoon uh in the Amalfi coast so never never northern Italy and um I know
04:18that uh you know Italy is a place where I feel like you could spend like six months and feel like you
04:22still haven't hit it all so I'm happy to be going back to to Italy and get to check out a new part of
04:27the country. Okay if you have to pick one Italian dish that you have to have while you're over there
04:32what's it going to be? I love like all Italian food I'd say my favorite is probably like chicken
04:36parm or like spicy rigatoni I don't think that's very like authentic Italian I think that's more
04:43like American Italian I found that out when I went over there was a lot more simple than the Italian
04:49we have here so I'm excited to try some of the local stuff and uh hopefully we can get out and
04:55explore Milan a little bit too. Now the Olympics obviously brings so many different sports and
05:00other athletes are you looking forward to watching any other sports or athletes that you're looking
05:04forward to either meeting or watching? Yeah totally I mean I really I would love to go to some of the
05:09women's hockey games um I know Team USA women is awesome and you know their rivalry with Canada and
05:16stuff is is really incredible to watch and then yeah just I feel like there's probably you know
05:2110 sports that I've never even seen before that I want to just go check out I mean I've
05:26I would love to see figure skating speed skating um hopefully we can get a day to go up in the
05:31mountains and see some of the stuff up there skiing snowboarding that stuff so yeah I'm going to try
05:36to be you know a fan as much as I can and and take it all in and enjoy every every part of it and
05:41hopefully I can get out and see as many sports as I can. Now last year when I talked to you after
05:46Four Nations you said that it really helped you staying in the rhythm of things for the season
05:51how is it as far as the preparation goes that you're still continuing going on and you don't
05:57have that break does that help you still going into the season? Yeah for sure I think yeah like
06:01I mean there's benefits to both I think getting away and putting the pads away for a while is nice
06:06but I also think you know when you stay in it and you know you get to play you know basically game
06:11seven playoff games in in February that's that helps you a lot too so I think for me it'll be
06:16nice to just you know stay in the rhythm and also get to you know work on my game against the best
06:20players in the world whether you know in the games or practices like I remember my first practice at
06:25Four Nations I got off the ice and I was like I've never practiced like that before like that was the
06:30most intense fastest skilled most skilled practice I've ever been a part of so you know if I can uh you
06:37know do well in those practices then when I get back to NHL I feel like it'll be you know feel like a lot
06:42slower than you know when you get to practice against elite elite guys like that so it's uh
06:46it'll be good for me to stay in the rhythm. Now you and some of your current teammates here are heading
06:51out to the opening ceremonies tell me a little bit about that. Yeah I think it just for me like it was
06:57uh you know when the opportunity presented itself like it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and
07:03you know to be to have the opportunity to walk I don't think you know a lot of the NHL guys aren't
07:08going to be able to just with schedules and stuff and with the way our our schedule is we have that
07:12extra day to get over there early so I thought you know I talked to my wife and she was like yeah you
07:17have to go like there's no why would you not so yeah a few of us are going to get to go and and do
07:21that and um you know feel like real Olympians when you get to do stuff like that. Well Jake we're super
07:26excited to watch you in the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics and that's a wrap here from the American
07:33Airline Center. Jake will be heading out to Milan, Italy in just a few short weeks for the Winter Games.
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