LAS VEGAS (KTNV) \u2014 For Akira Schmid, the Olympics were more than just another hockey tournament.<\/p>\n
The Vegas Golden Knights goaltender returned to practice on Saturday after representing Switzerland on the international stage, where he made one start in a preliminary-round matchup against Canada.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Schmid talks his Olympic experience and looking ahead for the rest of the NHL season:<\/p>\n
Golden Knights\u2019 Akira Schmid reflects on Olympic experience after start for Switzerland<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s probably the game you want to play as a goalie,\u201d Schmid said. \u201cThankfully I got it. It was a great experience. I don\u2019t know when you\u2019re going to play a team like that again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schmid stopped 34 of 39 shots in the game, facing a roster loaded with NHL talent. He admitted there were nerves early but settled in quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what kind of skill they have on the other team,\u201d he said. \u201cI was a little bit nervous, but I feel like I settled in pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Off the ice, Schmid said the Olympic atmosphere lived up to expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just kind of try to soak everything in,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had a great time. Our team was a very tight-knit group.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Olympic Village experience also left an impression.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so many people just walking around \u2014 athletes, coaches \u2014 where you just kind of interact with them,\u201d Schmid said. \u201cThey had some cool stuff like outdoor lounges, a gaming room, indoor lounges \u2014 all that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now back in Las Vegas, Schmid joins teammates preparing for the final stretch of the NHL regular season, with about 25 games remaining. The Golden Knights are navigating a tight Pacific Division race and balancing the return of several players who competed internationally.<\/p>\n
Schmid said he hopes the experience carries over.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo experience that and feel that, I\u2019m going to try to bring that here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While other Golden Knights players will compete in the gold medal game between Team USA and Team Canada, Schmid plans to tune in as a fan.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously we have teammates on both teams, so kind of got to root for both of them,\u201d he said. \u201cA tight game, hopefully overtime.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Schmid, the Olympic moment may have lasted just one start. But the perspective \u2014 and confidence \u2014 could extend far beyond it as Vegas pushes toward the postseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS (KTNV) \u2014 For Akira Schmid, the Olympics were more than just another hockey tournament. The Vegas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5129],"tags":[3504,6803,149,5317,5,3511,10697,4,10698,86,5754,74,39,10699,5316],"class_list":{"0":"post-466431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vegas-golden-knights","8":"tag-13-action-news","9":"tag-abc-13","10":"tag-golden-knights","11":"tag-goldenknights","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-las-vegas-sports","14":"tag-las-vegas-sports-teams","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-sports-in-vegas","17":"tag-sports-news","18":"tag-sports-stories","19":"tag-vegas","20":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","21":"tag-vegas-sports","22":"tag-vegasgoldenknights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116111931349391792","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}