Canadian sports fans anticipated spending the summer of 2020 watching a member of the Oleksiak family set off in pursuit of gold in Tokyo. Instead, they are watching a member of the Oleksiak family in pursuit of a Stanley Cup Championship in Edmonton.
The Dallas Stars are just three wins away from a birth in the Stanley Cup final following Sunday’s 1-0 shutout of the Vegas Golden Knights in the opener of the Western Conference final.
To say the Stars have caught the hockey world by surprise would be an understatement. Dallas entered the conference final stage as the longest shot on the board in the NHL odds in Las Vegas with a betting line of +650.
As with any Stanley Cup run, there are different heroes every night. A surprising part of the Star’s success has been long-time Dallas defenseman, Jamie Oleksiak. John Klingberg and young phenom Miro Heiskanen get most of the attention, however, it’s been Oleksiak that has brought consistency and physicality that’s often the difference in the playoffs.
Big Rig
It’s challenging not to stand out in the crowd when you tower over most everyone at 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds. Early in his career, as is often the case with a young defenseman, Oleksiak stood out for all the wrong reasons.
In these playoffs, he’s done what the hockey coaches like to refer to as quieting his game. The high-octane turnovers are a thing of the past.
While his defense partner Heiskanen has collected 21 points to lead all defensemen and rank second overall in playoff scoring, the 27-year-old Oleksiak has delivered 3-3-6 totals, along with a team-leading plus-six rating while logging 21:50 in ice time per game.
His game-winner in the last minute of the Stars’ Game 2 second-round win over the Calgary Flames kept Dallas from falling behind 2-0 in the series.
Beyond the numbers, he’s found a level of maturity in his game that’s allowing Dallas coach Rick Bowness to put his trust in Oleksiak.
“He’s a dominant, dominant player for us,” Bowness told the Dallas News. “He’s a huge part of this team, as he has been all year.”
The Second-Best Athlete In The Family
In the summer of 2016, Oleksiak’s younger sister Penny won four Olympic swimming medals for Canada as a 16-year-old at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games. She was a medal favorite for the Tokyo Games, postponed from this summer until 2021 by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Penny became Canada’s youngest-ever Olympic gold medalist and the first athlete to win four medals for that country at a single Summer Olympics.
Perhaps no one comprehended the road to her accomplishments more succinctly than her older brother.
“I understand the kind of sacrifice she’s gone through,” Oleksiak told the Windsor Star. “Just being a competitive athlete like that, it takes a lot of dedication, a lot of discipline.”
Jamie was in Rio to see his sister’s record-setting performance, as she etched her name into Canadian Olympic history. He indicated that the family has treated Penny’s success with the same level-headed approach that they’ve taken to his arrival in the NHL.
“We’re always wishing each other well, and we’re trying to support each other as much as possible but we don’t put either of us on a pedestal,” Jamie explained. “She’s definitely got a good head on her shoulders. I think she’s got the work ethic to do well. I think being so young and having that amount of determination, it’s just unbelievable. That’s something I try to bring to the rink.
“That’s definitely what pulled her up to that next level.
“She’s just got a really good attitude. The big thing is she just loves what she does, and she makes sure she always has a passion for it and she’s been able to make herself good at it, too.
“Mostly, we’re just glad she’s doing something that she enjoys and she’s passionate about it.”