Ottawa-born hockey player to represent Italy at upcoming Winter Games

Jason Seed playing for the Italian national hockey team. (Mirella Seed)

Ottawa’s Jason Seed is set to suit up to play in the upcoming Olympic winter games — but not for Canada.

Instead, Jason will play in Milan for the host nation Italy, where he holds a dual citizenship and his family has deep ties.

“I heard a lot of Italian growing up a lot and I understand it pretty well because of that,” Jason told CTV News in a video call from Italy.

“Just being around [my grandparents] and the culture, it’s just something I’m familiar with and comfortable with.”

Jason has been playing professional hockey across Europe since 2016. In 2022 he moved to Italy, where he is now playing with Italian team Bolzano HC.

He grew up playing hockey across the capital region for teams including the Ottawa Sting, the Ottawa Valley Titans, the Gloucester Rangers, the Upper Canada Cyclones, and the Carleton Ravens. Jason also played junior hockey for the Gatineau Olympiques and was a member of the Saint John Sea Dogs Memorial Cup winning team in 2011.

Jason went undrafted following his junior career, leading him to pursue professional teams in Europe. He says he never would have seen his Canadian upbringing and Italian heritage coming together to make him an Olympian.

“I never would’ve imagined it the way it’s colliding, the way it is now, definitely not,” Jason says.

“It’s a different world; hockey’s kind of Canada’s sport, obviously that’s where I grew up playing it, but I’m just very fortunate to have this opportunity here now just based on my background.”

“It’s really hard to describe how to put in words,” he says of being selected to play at the Olympics. “I mean, it was it was just incredible to get that news.”

For years, Jason’s parents Tom and Mirella have been forced to follow their son’s career through laggy online streams where the game commentators do not speak English.

Now the entire Seed family will be flying to Milan to cheer Jason on in person.

“We never thought that this would happen,” said Jason’s mother Mirella.

“It just kind of creeped up and we’re like, ‘oh my God, the Olympics are going to be in Italy and you’re going to be there and you’re able to play for the national team.’”

Mirella says her parents immigrated to Canada in the 1950’s and she made it a priority to get each of her children their Italian citizenship.

“I wanted them to have it because of their Italian heritage and also because there might have been opportunities for education in Italy when and if you’re a citizen, you have some more opportunities,” she said, never thinking obtaining an Italian passport would lead to an Olympic opportunity for her son.

“It has been kind of the perfect storm,” says Jason’s father, Tom.

“We didn’t know when he started his pro hockey career that he’d end up in Italy, much less on the national team, much less having an Olympic opportunity.”

Now at 34-years-old, Jason will be playing on the biggest stage of his career. His family recognizes that he may have never gotten here if he didn’t pursue hockey outside of North America.

“Playing for Canada probably wouldn’t have been an option,” said Mirella. “He’s not an NHLer. There’s a lot of good players in Canada.”

Jason also acknowledges that he will be coming up against his toughest competition to date, with Italy as underdogs and most other Olympic rosters being made up of NHL players.

“We don’t want to just be there because we’re the host team,” he says.

“I mean, that’s obviously why we are there. That being said, we’re working hard to put the best game forward that we can and compete with each team.”

“We’ve enjoyed the ride along with him,” says his father, Tom. “But this would be that cherry on top for sure.”

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