The Olympic experience can be pure gold

It’s hard to put into words the feeling of representing your country in the Olympic Games in your home province....

The first time I put on a Team Canada jersey was back in 1991. It was at the World Juniors in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It was a huge thrill for me, just to make the team in the first place. I was one of the team’s younger players at that time, and the tournament went very well for us. I remember getting a lot of good-luck wishes that were posted in our dressing room the day of the gold-medal game.

It was close and we beat the Russians -- obviously a great rivalry between the two countries in hockey. To beat them, to actually win the gold medal, it was an amazing feeling to see the fans and the flags in the stands. Everybody had their red-and-white jerseys on. Just the excitement was great as people in Canada obviously love hockey. To win a gold medal on the world junior level in front of that many fans was very exciting.

My first Olympic experience took place in 2002 at Salt Lake City. I think it was a roller-coaster ride for our team. When we got there, I think we felt we had a great team and a good chance at winning a gold medal. It started out a little bit rocky and you’re trying to come together as a team and build something. If it doesn’t go well, you do start to feel the pressure. It makes it a lot more difficult to right the ship when you’ve gone that direction. There was a lot of talk and a lot of things written in the media. Obviously expectations were high for our team. So there was a lot of pressure that got added on top once we did start a bit slow.

Coming together as a team, it’s a challenge. One day before, you’re competing against each other and body checking in the NHL. You’re doing whatever it takes to win. The next moment, your stalls are next to each other and you’re on the same team. In the NHL, you do get used to that a little bit as trades happen and different things like that. But I think the team that’s obviously able to do that best (come together) probably will have the best chance to win.

And then we just managed to right the ship. We stuck together in the dressing room, the coaching staff and everybody there. It just happened that we kept going in the right direction and eventually it turned for us. It would have been nice to play well all the way through and relieve a lot of ... extra pressure, but it worked out fine.

We received our gold medals right after the final game. To have that gold medal put around your neck and watch the flags go up, something you’ve seen as a kid on the Olympics growing up ... just to be a part of that is a pretty neat experience and was a huge thrill. You’re standing there -- it was pretty emotional -- everyone was there with their medals on. “O Canada” was being played and the flag was going up. That’s what you wanted to have happen and you achieved your goal.

There’s a big difference between winning the Stanley Cup and the gold medal. With the Stanley Cup, there are people absolutely everywhere in the dressing room. But at the Olympics, with security and what not, no one was in the dressing room. It was great because it was just the hockey team, the coaching staff and the trainers. We were just hanging out and enjoying it and taking in the moment, which was kind of neat.

You win a big game in the NHL or win the Stanley Cup, and the place is just flooded. You can’t move in the dressing room. You can’t really take it all in because you’re just trying to move from place to place. So we just hung out in the room for a while and enjoyed that. Then they had a room set up for families and friends that we went to and continued celebrating afterward. Back home in Canada, we heard that everyone was obviously very excited, driving around, honking horns, waving flags, things like that.

Being in the Olympic village, to see the other athletes, to go down to the cafeteria, which is just a huge place with all sorts of different foods, is a really great experience. You’re down there with other athletes from your own country who are competing in different sports. Then you see other athletes from all over the world. Everyone’s in their uniforms, so you know who everybody is with.

It’s a big difference from the NHL, where you’re with your guys 24/7 and not really exposed to different things. And obviously there are both male and female athletes, big, little, all different shapes and sizes from all over the world. It’s a fun thing just to sit down and eat and see what’s going on around you.

NHL players are used to staying in hotels. And these days, the older guys, we have our own rooms. But in the Olympic village, you get put into a dorm-room type situation. I actually shared a room with Chris Pronger. It was a little room with two little single beds. There were four attached rooms with eight of us total, and then a little TV in the corner of the shared room. It was a lot different than what we’re used to, so you have to make adjustments. But it was fun because you have a different experience. I’m looking forward to being part of that again. Just to be part of the whole Olympic Games ... it’s a great thing.

It’s going to be a unique opportunity to play in Vancouver. It’s going to be a challenge, though ... the expectations are going to be high. But to have that support from the stands when you’re out on the ice is a huge boost as well. Playing in front of Canada at the World Junior tournament was great, and I expect the fans to be all that and more in their support for the team and their overall excitement for the whole tournament. But obviously for Team Canada to go out there and do our job, which is to try and win the gold medal ... it’s going to be a unique, once-in-a-lifetime-type opportunity.

I think for my kids to be a part of the Olympic experience, at an age where they’re more able to understand what’s going on and to remember it down the road, that’s going to be great. They were all born in the U.S., so technically they’re Americans. We did get them their Canadian citizenship as well. My wife will make them cheer for the Canadians, and I’m sure they will. It will be a neat experience to have them come up to Vancouver to support us.

My kids were obviously very young in 2002. We only had two at the time. Our oldest would have been not even 3 and the youngest was 1. I think it’s going to be a learning experience for them. I’m sure they’re going to have lots of fun. When there’s an Olympics going on in a city, there are things going on all over the place. They’re starting to get to the age where they know who some of the snowboarders are and guys like that. Maybe they’ll bump into them or go to some of the other events. To be part of that, to have those memories as a kid, that’s going to be good for them.

When I returned to the NHL in December 2007, my son Josh was most excited about being able to come get gum from the locker room again. I don’t think they’ll be coming into the dressing room, but if there’s gum, Josh will find the gum. If there’s a treat somewhere, which there will be (there’s always lots of treats set up), he will find what he needs!