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ns id eh al to n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 1 5, 2 01 8 | SPORTS Visit insidehalton.com for more coverage Goloubef cherishes Olympic experience Steve Russell pho to Back in the American Hockey League where he is helping the Stockton Heat push for a playoff spot, Cody Goloubef said winning a bronze medal with Canada's men's hockey team lit a fire in him. The 28-year-old said his Olympic experience exceeded his high expectations. Bronze medal with Canadian men's hockey team "lights a fire" in Oakville defenceman HERB GARBUTT hgarbutt@burlingtonpost.com It didn't take long for re­ ality to set in. For two weeks, Cody Go­ loubef got to play in the world's most prestigious hockey tournament. On off days, he watched snow­ boarding, bobsled and mar­ velled at what athletes in other sports were able to do. He witnessed sporting triumphs and got to know the athletes everyone back home were watching on TV. "The experience of a life­ time," Goloubef said. Then, within a few days of the closing ceremonies, Goloubef was back in the thick of a playoff race with the Stockton Heat in a stretch of eight games in 15 days. In a tightly packed Western Conference, the Heat could still finish as high as fourth and earn home-ice advantage, or they could slip out of the playoffs. It hasn't given the 28- year-old a lot of time to re­ flect on what he and his Ca­ nadian teammates accom­ plished. But if he ever finds himself looking to recap­ ture some of those Olympic moments, he always has his bronze medal to temporari­ ly transport him back to South Korea. "It blew my expectations away," Goloubef said. "Even though it's back to the grind, I talk to people about the Olympics and I still get chills." And though he compet­ ed in a sport in which is so closely tied to Canada's identity, Goloubef said see­ ing the athletes in other sports only helped put the hockey team's accomplish­ ment in perspective. "Just knowing what was at stake, it's such a rare op­ portunity to be able to play for a medal," he said. "You see athletes who work hard for four years, and then one fall and it's all down the drain. You just can't put in­ to words what it means to come home with a medal." In the bronze-medal game Goloubef picked up two assists in Canada's 6-4 win over the Czech Repub­ lic as Canada bounced back from a heartbreaking loss to Germany in the semifi­ nals. Germany built a 4-1 lead and then held off a third-pe­ riod charge in which the Canadians held a 15-1 edge in shots. Germany went on to push the Olympic ath­ letes from Russia to over­ time before falling in the gold-medal game, leaving the Canadians wondering what might have been. "You know going into a one-game elimination tour­ nament that you have to bring your best. We had one bad period and then it was a race against the clock," Go­ loubef said of the 4-3 defeat. "We peppered them with shots, but we ran out of time." Just as the Germans took advantage of their op­ portunities in the semifi­ nal, Goloubef made the most of his Olympic experi­ ence. He got a taste of what it's like to be in a Canadian hockey crowd when he went to short track speed­ skating. "You see their passion for the sport and then to have the Korean skater win, it was such a cool ex­ perience," he said. And there were many more to come. He watched Canada's Mark McMorris win a med­ al less than a year after a life-threatening snow­ boarding accident. He heard the story of Larkyn Austman, who as a 12-year- old gathered the flowers thrown on the ice for Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue in Vancouver and eight years later was their teammate on the Canadian figure skating team. "It lights a fire in your belly," Goloubef said. And if the Olympics weren't inspiring enough, the day after Canada claimed the bronze, the Calgary Flames signed him to a two-way contract through next season, open­ ing the door for him to pur­ sue a return to the NHL. CEIIS3022010] mu,EACH FOR BOYS & GIRLS BORN 2002-2016 LEAGUES AVAILABLE TUES-SAT 4* 12 weeks o f games, starts June 3-9 A> Soccer Tots program for players bom 2015/2016 includes parents & kids in fun 30min sessions A* Teammate requests accommodated A> Paid, certified coaches * Team uniform included Af Each player receives a ball A> Team photograph included & End of Season Awards 2002-2014 LEAGUES: $207.96 2015/16 SOCCER PROGRAM: $97.35 Prices +tax a Y O U T H S O C C E R S U M M E R 2 0 1 8 O U TD O O R HOUSE LEAGUES A T APPLEBV COLLEGE & ST. TH O M A S A Q U IN A S mailto:hgarbutt@burlingtonpost.com SPORTS Visit insidehalton.com for more coverage HERB GARBUTT