It wasn\u2019t exactly the storybook ending he hoped for. But the Winter Olympics experience was one for Travis Sanheim\u2019s scrapbook.<\/p>\n
His Canadian squad lost to Team USA in the gold-medal game Sunday. While it was disappointing for the Flyers defenseman, the two-week tournament and silver medal was something he will never forget.<\/p>\n
The dream-like aspect hit him as soon as he first got to Milan Feb. 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just stepping foot in the (Olympic) village and seeing other athletes, in their sport and different countries and meeting new people, trading pins, having conversations,\u201d Sanheim said after Wednesday\u2019s morning skate at Capital One Arena in Washington. \u201cJust overall a cool experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then to to get to the rink and see that maple leaf (on the jersey) and, yeah, your name on the back and the journey that it took to get there. I\u2019m just super grateful that I got that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The whole Sanheim clan from Elkhorn, Manitoba, was there to lend support and cheer their heads off.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, had a good crew there,\u201d Sanheim said. \u201cLots of family and friends that made the journey over and just appreciative of the support that I got.\u201d<\/p>\n
This cheering section has been going on for all of the 29-year-old\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone that came over has been with me from when I was a kid, and happy to be able to share that experience with them,\u201d he said. \u201cIt means just as much to me as it does to them. And then I get to share that with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though a silver medal was a letdown for favored Canada, Sanheim is proud of the accomplishment: \u201cAt the end of it, showing them (my family) the medal and then to put it on and, and getting pictures, you get to see the joy and, what it meant for them to to experience what I was going through. I\u2019m fortunate to have those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanheim is a favorite son of Elkhorn, a town with only a few hundred citizens. It\u2019s safe to say most were watching the games on TV.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole community, my mom was showing me pictures and my wife as well,\u201d Sanheim said. \u201cAnd just the support that I get coming from a small town to see an Olympic dream come true. It doesn\u2019t happen very often. It means the world to me that I come from such a a small community and yet have the support of everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanheim played well in his role of a stay-at-home defenseman. He was plus-6 in the tournament and chipped in an assist on Shea Theodore\u2019s third-period, game-tying goal in the semifinal against Finland.<\/p>\n
Playing against the world\u2019s best can only help Sanheim\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe style of play that you need to play and the willingness to do anything to win a hockey game and roles, different roles that come up throughout the tournament that guys have to sacrifice for the better good of the team,\u201d Sanheim said. \u201cAnd then just the skill level that these guys play with and how they play, how hard they work. Their off-ice training and what they do, their preparation, you know, there\u2019s a reason they\u2019re the best in their sport and I\u2019m lucky to share the ice with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Can Sanheim bring some of that back with him to his game in the NHL?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I can bring any of that back, you know, and share that with our team and try and help the guys,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to continue to grow and take the next step and being able to see that first-hand is going to benefit me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It wasn\u2019t exactly the storybook ending he hoped for. But the Winter Olympics experience was one for Travis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,5095],"class_list":{"0":"post-472682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116136055100597102","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472682","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=472682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}