Sebastian Aho reflects on an "unbelievable experience," sharing family moments and intense competition en route to Olympic bronze for Finland.
Carolina Hurricanes centerman Sebastian Aho helped lead Team Finland to a bronze medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan just a few days ago.
Aho is back in North Carolina now and spoke with the media on Wednesday about his experience. Here's what he had to say:
Sebastian Aho
On his Olympic experience: Just an unbelievable experience for myself, for the team and obviously I also got to share it with my family, which was really special. Just unreal to have been a part of that team and represent my country. Obviously didn't achieve our ultimate goal, which was winning the gold medal, but still, we won a bronze and got that with us, so pretty proud of that too.
On the level of competition: I had so much fun playing in those games. Everyone saw how highly competitive and entertaining they were. There were no easy games. Lots of OTs, lots of one-goal games and stuff like that. The hockey was really good. It was fun to play and I'm sure it was fun to watch. That's what Olympic hockey is all about.
On if he felt increased pressure on himself to step up in the absence of Aleksander Barkov: Well, I don't know if there was added pressure or anything. I mean, of course you're going to feel pressure. You're on the highest stage of international hockey. But you want that pressure. You want to be in those situations where you're playing for important stuff. That's certainly what it was. Like I said, I just had so much fun playing for my country. We had a pretty good tournament. Obviously we had a heartbreaker in the Team Canada game and didn't get to play for the gold medal, but having said that, we left it all out there and it was a good feeling after the tournament. Looking each other in the eye and just being happy with the effort.
On facing teammates in the tournament: Obviously mid-tournament, you're not worried Jarvy and Slavo at all. Just kind of doing your own thing, but yeah, playing against them in this tournament was fun. It already happened last year and we didn't get to play the US this year, but once you get out there, you don't really think about that stuff, you just play hockey. It's too quick to think about who's out there. It was tough, I don't know who I was rooting for in the finals. Obviously if we had been there, we would have been rooting for ourselves, but at that point, they both deserved it. They're both unbelievable players. It all came down to one play. That's how it goes in hockey and in sports. But really proud of both of those guys.
On what will stick with him from the tournament: There was so much stuff. I think just being part of it. The team was unbelievable. We had so much fun together. I don't know. Just being in the village and seeing all the athletes and hanging out together. We had some time to experience the city too with my family and I knew my family would be in the stands for the games and stuff like that. There was just so much to unpack and we would have to have a bit longer media session here and I gotta go home. I enjoyed every second of it. It was very special.
On moving on from the tournament: It ends so quick. Like, the next day, you're in the plane going home. You don't have too much time to spend together which is kind of the bad part, but at the same time, we enjoyed every second of it and that's what you have to do. You have to make the most of it when you're there. I'm really proud of how we played. And while playing our tails off, we had some fun. A great experience.
On what he'll take with him from the experience: There's a ton. So much happened in that tournament. You play basically just one game and it's intense and it's hard to win, right? Every little detail matters. Obviously you want those situations, you want to play in those situations to have that experience later on and hopefully it will help us down the stretch. There was a lot that I will carry for the rest of my career.
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