Canadian Olympic gold medallist and Winnipeg mom Jill Officer gives us a twice-monthly look behind the scenes of her dual life in her blog, Jill’s House.
I was playing ping-pong in the Canadian athlete lounge with my teammate Kaitlyn Lawes. It was something we did a few times while competing at the Olympics to kill the downtime we had with only one game a day.
This particular day, NHL and Canadian team hockey players Shea Weber and Patrice Bergeron came into the lounge. When Kaitlyn and I finished up our game, they took over the table, but it wasn’t very long before the two of them asked us if we wanted to play doubles.
Uhm…ok!
Next day, same situation, except this time Weber brought his buddy Sidney Crosby. Again they asked if we wanted to join them in a doubles match and again, without hesitation, we accepted.
Fast forward to the closing ceremonies, where I took an epic selfie with two of my teammates, as well as Roberto Luongo, Dan Hamhuis and Mike Smith. After ceremonies, Jonathan Toews signed a couple of hockey jerseys for us and took us around to get some of the other hockey guy’s autographs. And finally, they invited us up to the party they were having in their own personal athlete lounge.
Now, I don’t mean to brag, but when I opened my social media last week to find out that the NHL players were not being allowed to play for the Canadian Olympic Team in South Korea next year, I was very disappointed – both from my standpoint as a fellow athlete as well as for them.
READ MORE: NHL won’t participate in 2018 Olympics; league says matter ‘officially closed’
I clearly remember having a conversation with Toews after the closing ceremonies about how he felt like it was all a wonderful dream. And to think that this was his second gold medal win – he was still saying how amazing it was and how great it is to be part of the Olympic Team!
So when I think of that, I feel for those young players like Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews who thought maybe they’d have a chance to represent their country on the biggest stage.
As much as the hockey guys at the Olympics are just regular guys, especially when it comes to being part of the Canadian Olympic Team, they are still superstar athletes. It was hard for the rest of us not to turn and whisper when we saw the likes of Crosby, Teemu Selanne, and Zdeno Chara in the village (it was also an unwritten rule not to bother them, or other athletes for photos, but we did eventually anyway).
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Being a fan of the Olympics and a fan of athletes in general, having the NHL players at the Games with us admittedly added to the excitement and experience of the biggest sporting show on earth. Sure we got to mingle with them, but also to have the opportunity to watch Toews, Crosby, Weber, Doughty, P.K. Subban and more play together on the same team, which was also my Canadian Olympic Team, was an incredible once in a lifetime experience as a sports fan.
So when I say I am disappointed that they won’t be there, it is not just with the hopes that I will be at the Olympics again and it would be weird without them, but also because even as a fan, it just wouldn’t be the same.
RELATED: With no NHL, who will play for Team Canada at the 2018 Olympics?
And really, who is going to watch the NHL anyway…the Olympics will be on!
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