TJ Oshie enjoyed a long and fruitful career in the National Hockey League, appearing in over 1,000 games and being immortalized along with the 2017-18 Washington Capitals team that brought a Stanley Cup championship to the District of Columbia.
But you might know him better for his heroics at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, when he represented Team USA in ice hockey and became a household name after being chosen six times — including five in a row — in a preliminary round shootout against the Russians.
Oshie scored four goals on six attempts against star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, earning the title of shootout specialist, a moniker he carried with him his entire career to the tune of an incredible 47.1 percent conversion rate over 16 professional campaigns.
The now-39-year-old officially retired back in June after missing the Capitals' entire 2024-25 season due to complications from lingering upper-body injuries that plagued him later in his career. But Oshie has stayed busy, joining ESPN as a studio analyst and returning to Washington — a place where he's hailed as a hero — as a shootout consultant.
Now, he's teaming up with Michelob Ultra for a Super Bowl 60 spot alongside actors Kurt Russell and Lewis Pullman, and Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim. Oshie is representing USA hockey in the 2026 Winter Olympics-themed commercial set on the slopes of Milan, with direction from Top Gun: Maverick filmmaker Joseph Kosinski.
“My dad's favorite beer was Michelob Golden Light, so when I was approached, I was like here we go, I'm in,” Oshie told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview ahead of Super Bowl 60 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.
“And partnering with Team USA, with the Olympics, and NHL players being back for the first time since I was there in 2014, it just kind of linked up. I saw the story about the competitiveness between buddies, which is almost like a page out of my life story. …And so it aligned perfectly. And then for Kurt Russell to be in it, I was pretty starstruck when I saw him for the first time, and Chloe Kim standing next to me, I wish I could borrow one of her gold medals.
“There's just so many ways that it was the perfect fit. Honestly, they made it so easy on me, it was so easy to come in and shoot and have fun, have a couple of Michelob Ultras at the end. That competitive spirit that they're bringing to the commercial to the Super Bowl is the same competitive spirit that I had at the Olympics, and so it really tied together perfectly.”
Oshie — who grew up in Everett, Washington and has been a Seattle Seahawks fan for over 20 years — is happy to help promote the Olympics on the biggest night in American sports, a rematch of the electric title game between the Seahawks and New England Patriots in 2015.
Oshie helped Team USA to a fourth-place finish in 2014 after his shootout heroics, and he didn't take his opportunity for granted.
“To be named to the team, I didn't take it lightly. I knew why I was there. I felt an amazing amount of pride to be selected to the team, and really didn't want to let the coaches down for giving me the shot,” he explained.
“I think my proudest moment is leading into the Olympics, we met with a lot of military personnel, a lot of special forces, and just hearing their stories. How fearless they were, how much they loved their teammates around them and sacrificed their bodies for them. So the proudest moment for me was meeting with them. The real American heroes are the ones in the military, along with people that save lives.”
TJ Oshie believes Team USA can be golden in Milan
Although Oshie played in only a single Olympics, as NHL players did not participate in 2018 in PyeongChang or 2022 in Beijing, he's excited that, after a 12-year hiatus, the best players in the sport are back to competing internationally.
And he believes the United States has the team to win it all for the first time since the Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid in 1980.
“I think we're as close as we've ever been without sacrificing the defensive side of the game,” Oshie said when asked if Team USA can compete for gold this February. “And in these short tournaments, the goaltenders are the most important player. If you have the goaltending, you have a good chance of making a run. I think USA has a very, very deep team and a really, really good chance.
“Canada is still going to be the team to beat, just with their their history. I mean, the number of points combined on their team alone, I think, is a lot more than anyone else. The Stanley Cups that they've won on their team combined is a lot more than anyone else. So they're the team to beat, but I think the US can do it.”
Oshie is very familiar with being an underdog; his Capitals in the spring of 2018 were the first team since 1991 to trail in all four Stanley Cup Playoff series before eventually winning it all.
They lost the first two games against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Round 1, rallied from a 1-0 deficit against the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round, erased a 3-2 hole against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final, and lost Game 1 against the Vegas Golden Knights before reeling off four straight wins in the Stanley Cup Final.
It was a thrilling run for Oshie, captain Alex Ovechkin and the entire franchise, whose names will live forever in Washington lore.
“We always had high hopes and never made it deep in the playoffs, and I remember specifically that year we were told that Ovechkin's window had closed,” Oshie said with a smile. “It's crazy to think about that now, right? But in 2017 training camp, that's what everyone was saying, and we kind of just took it upon ourselves that we're going to play a certain way, and we're going to live and die playing this way. And we're convinced that if we do this, if we wear other teams down by the end of a seven game series, we will win.
“And there was this sense of like we have to win, and the frustration and the anxiety that comes with that, became we're going to win if we stick with this, and if we don't, we're okay losing, because the other team is really going to have to earn it. And we came together as a team. Everyone just sacrificed everything and and we were going to live and die with that, and it made it extra special that we did it together.”
Now nearly eight years since hoisting Lord Stanley, Oshie is content with where he's at. He's a husband and a father of four, enjoying raising a family in the Midwest.
But he admitted that the thing he misses most is the competitiveness of the NHL, and he didn't rule out a more permanent role behind a bench in the future.
“I miss pushing myself further than I think I can go, even the little things like fighting through injuries and still finding a way to make an impact on the game,” Oshie reflected. “And then the time in the locker room, the time in the hotels, the time playing cards on the plane. That's really the good stuff that you just can't get when you're done playing. So I mean, I miss everything, but definitely the time with the boys and that competitiveness.
“For me, that's 1A and 1B.”
There's no doubt Oshie harbors the same type of fiery spirit and competitiveness that will need to be on full display if the 2026 iteration of Team USA hopes to author another miracle, this time in Milano Cortina.
But first, Super Bowl 60 kicks off just past 6:30 p.m. ET from Santa Clara on Sunday night.
