{"id":118281,"date":"2026-01-03T03:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T03:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/118281\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T03:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T03:50:14","slug":"sharks-wennberg-makes-swedish-olympic-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/118281\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks&#8217; Wennberg Makes Swedish Olympic Roster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The San Jose Sharks will have their top two centers representing their countries at the 2026 Winter Olympics, as Alexander Wennberg was named to Team Sweden\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n<p>While the centerman found out on New Year\u2019s Eve, the rest of the world found out on Friday when Sweden released its roster.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Wenny\u2019s heading to Milan!<\/p>\n<p>Congrats to Alex Wennberg on being named to Sweden\u2019s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics!<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TheFutureIsTeal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#TheFutureIsTeal<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MilanoCortina?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#MilanoCortina<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lI2S2mxxqf\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/lI2S2mxxqf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SanJoseSharks\/status\/2007111028010635395?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. So so honored, so proud. It\u2019s really one of those, like, pinch yourself moments. It\u2019s a hell of an honor. I\u2019m looking forward to being a part of it,\u201d Wennberg said after Sharks practice.<\/p>\n<p>Wennberg, 31, has never represented his country on the Olympic stage. He\u2019s played for Sweden at the World Juniors and at the <a href=\"https:\/\/sharkshockeydigest.com\/san-jose-sharks-world-championship-smith-wennberg-celebrini-regenda-eklund\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">World Championships<\/a> three times. The San Jose Sharks\u2019 No. 2 center wasn\u2019t selected for Team Sweden at the Four Nations Face-Off, but used that as motivation to make the Olympics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Four Nations would have been a hell of an opportunity. Didn\u2019t [get the] chance. I mean, obviously, an opportunity for me to push a bit extra, but I mean, didn\u2019t stop it there. I\u2019m here to play for the Sharks,\u201d Wennberg said. \u201cI feel like we do whatever we can right here. If I play good hockey individually, it\u2019s gonna help the team as well. So the focus is on the team. These things give you that validation that you\u2019re doing something right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wennberg said he\u2019s excited to share the Olympics with his family. Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofky said he feels Wennebrg has earned his way onto that roster and will help Sweden\u2019s chances for a gold medal. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s earned it. He\u2019s played some really good hockey for us,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cHe can play up and down your lineup in that tournament. He can play the wing. Understands momentum shifts in games. Understands how to impact the game with his b game, he can win face-offs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wennberg says playing at the Olympics will help him stay sharp for the rest of the San Joe Sharks\u2019 playoff push.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a lot of hockey, but for me, I\u2019m feeling really excited and really enjoying what we\u2019re doing right now,\u201d Wennberg said. \u201cPlay a little extra, keep warm during the break. That\u2019s just going to help me even have a harder push. Try to take advantage of the extra ice time, extra opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wennberg has been a bit of an unsung hero for the Sharks this season. In 40 games, Wennebrg has scored seven goals and 19 assists. He\u2019s been a valuable member of the Sharks\u2019 center core and <a href=\"https:\/\/sharkshockeydigest.com\/san-jose-sharks-smith-celebrini-power-play-changes-carolina-hurricanes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">power play<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>William Eklund is happy for Wennberg<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for fellow countryman <a href=\"https:\/\/sharkshockeydigest.com\/san-jose-sharks-eklund-olympics-talks-sweden\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">William Eklund<\/a>, he was not named to the Swedish Olympic team. Wennberg felt bad for his Sharks teammate, but says his time will come.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love his game, and I feel like he, for sure, could be on this team,\u201d Wennberg said. \u201cObviously, whoever takes up the lineup to have different views on it or not, but he\u2019s still so young. He\u2019s gonna have his opportunity. It\u2019s gonna come. I understand that he\u2019s disappointed, but like I said, he\u2019s a hell of a player.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for Eklund, he is ecstatic that his Sharks teammate is headed to the Olympics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s so deserving of it. This is one of his last chances, so I was really happy for him to get that chance. I\u2019m happy for him,\u201d Eklund said. \u201cHe\u2019s such a skillful offensive guy that he doesn\u2019t get credit for enough. He\u2019s one of the best guys [I\u2019ve] ever seen on boards and how to protect the puck. As a young player, I would watch him a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the Olympic rosters are exciting to discuss, it is still a long way away, and both Wennberg and Eklund know that their focus needs to remain on the Sharks\u2019 push for the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>Read more news and stories about the San Jose Sharks on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sharkshockeydigest.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sharks Hockey Digest<\/a>! Bookmark the page and follow Sharks Hockey Digest on Twitter @<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SharksHKYDigest\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">SharksHKYDigest<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Jose Sharks will have their top two centers representing their countries at the 2026 Winter Olympics,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[4173,2094,88,90,89,98,4174,755,62643,2105],"class_list":{"0":"post-118281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","9":"tag-alexander-wennberg","10":"tag-san-jose","11":"tag-san-jose-headlines","12":"tag-san-jose-news","13":"tag-san-jose-sharks","14":"tag-sharks-news","15":"tag-sj-sharks","16":"tag-team-sweden","17":"tag-william-eklund"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}