Clayton Keller missed the first phone call.
“We were getting ready for practice,” the Utah Mammoth captain said in his defense.
So Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong tracked Keller down on Friday morning and told him to check his phone. On the other end of the line was an invitation to join Team USA at the Winter Olympics next month in Italy.
“I didn’t really know what to say. It means so much to me,” the 27-year-old Keller said. “I’ve worked tremendously hard.”
This will be Keller’s first trip to the Olympics. But the forward has been part of USA hockey success before. He won gold medals at the Under-18 Worlds in 2015, the World Juniors in 2017 and he captained Team USA to a Worlds title last year. It was the United States’ first gold medal in that competition in 92 years.
“Anytime you can represent your country, it’s the best feeling ever,” Keller said.
The 2026 Olympic Games begin Feb. 6, with Team USA’s first hockey game coming on Feb. 12. It will be the first time NHL players have participated in the games since 2014.
“There are so many great players. The competition is going to be unbelievable,” Keller said. “You want to play against the best players in the world and that’s ultimately why the NHL players wanted to be there so badly: to have the best on best.”
Utah’s captain leads the Mammoth with 13 goals and 23 assists this season.
Joining Keller in Italy will be Mammoth defenseman Olli Määttä, who will represent Finland in the Olympics for the second time in his career.