‘Dream Come True’ for Jake Guentzel to Make His International Debut at 4 Nations Face-Off

The 2025 4 Nations Face-Off marks a landmark moment for Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jake Guentzel. 

That’s because Guentzel, now 30, is the only international “rookie” on Team USA for the tournament. The other 22 U.S. players have all represented their country at least once before, whether it was at the senior, under-20 or under-18 level. 

Team USA opens play in the four-team tournament tonight vs. Finland at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

“It’s a dream come true, you grow up as a kid dreaming of playing for your country,” Guentzel said. “It’s a pretty cool moment and is more special having the family there, and it’s been a lot of hard work.”

Guentzel, a self-described late bloomer, wasn’t on Team USA’s radar beyond being the occasional camp invitee for the under-18 or under-20 team. As his game grew in the NHL, he also became a frequent playoff fixture with the Pittsburgh Penguins, meaning any chance at playing in the IIHF Men’s World Championship was effectively off the table. 

It meant that if Guentzel was going to play for the United States, it was going to take a best-on-best tournament, like this new tournament or the Olympic Winter Games in 2026. 

A humble but confident player, Guentzel’s career is a case study in hard work and capitalizing on key situations. After three years of college hockey at Nebraska-Omaha, he won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a rookie in 2017. 

Over parts of the next eight seasons with Pittsburgh, Guentzel established himself as part of the Penguins core, reaching the 40-goal plateau twice, and becoming one of the most-sought after free agents this summer before he signed with the Lightning. 

Team USA wanted to bring Guentzel to the 4 Nations Face-Off for many of the reasons why the Lightning signed him. Guentzel plays with speed and pace both offensively and defensively. Plus, he’s a goal scorer who can also be trusted against the other team’s top players — something that Mike Sullivan, head coach for Team USA, is well aware of from his time coaching Guentzel in Pittsburgh. 

Guentzel said he was hoping he’d be on Team USA’s radar but wasn’t expecting anything. Therefore, it was a special moment when he got a text from Bill Guerin, general manager of Team USA.  

“I was flying to Nashville for Thanksgiving, and he texted me, so you kind of figure out what it is, but you don’t know if it’s a ‘You made it’ or not call,” Guentzel said. “I called him back from the hotel, and I got that conversation that a lot of players think about and dream about from their country.”

Right after talking to Guerin, Guentzel called his parents, who he says are largely the foundation for his hockey career. 

Jake was born in Nebraska because his dad, Mike, was the coach of the USHL’s Omaha Lancers at the time. Mike also spent more than two decades coaching college hockey, primarily at the University of Minnesota, meaning Jake and his brothers effectively grew up at the rink. 

Fittingly, Guentzel’s playing career took him back to his birthplace for college, where he had 119 points in 108 career games for Nebraska-Omaha. 

Guentzel credits his time in college hockey and in the USHL with the Sioux City Musketeers as the foundation for his NHL, and now international, career. 

“It was huge, kind of getting my own path and doing my own thing first in the USHL and then going to Nebraska-Omaha,” Guentzel said. “That was crucial for my career, playing for Dean Blais, he helped prepare me and my game to be able to take the next step, so I could play in the NHL pretty soon after college.”

For the 4 Nation’s Face-Off, Guentzel is rivals with some of his teammates in Tampa Bay. The Lightning have five players in the tournament — three Canadians and a Swede, while Guentzel’s NHL head coach, Jon Cooper, will be behind the bench for Team Canada. 

“It’s going to be fun, and it shows how good our team is in [Tampa] and how competitive it is that so many players will be representing their country,” Guentzel said. “It creates a competitive environment, and it’s really what you want, to be able to play against the best in something like this.” 

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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Source: usahockey.com