Another Team Canada’s player is reluctant to go to Olympics
More and more concerns about attending the Beijing Winter Olympics…
HockeyFeed
Earlier this week, Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo admitted to having concerns about attending the Beijing Winter Olympics.
It sounds like it’s not the only one. While Pietrangelo was named to Canada’s preliminary roster in October along with Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby, many other names have been listed as potential picks for Team Canada. Amongst them is Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares, though he too has become reluctant to go to Beijing for the Winter Games since the International Olympic Committee confirmed that any positive COVID-19 case at the Olympic Games must produce two negative tests 24 hours apart. Otherwise, the quarantine period can last from 21 days up to five weeks in accordance with Chinese law. Here is what the Leafs’ star forward said on Monday night:
“You talk about a five-week quarantine, if you’ve already been over there for a few weeks, that’s a really long time. That’s a long time. That’s a really long time.”
This is a bold statement from Tavares, who represented Canada and won gold at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. He has been a vocal supporter of NHL participation for 2022, but this quarantine is a new twist for the Maple Leafs’ captain.
“I think we all hope to go but clearly I think things are a little bit more uneasy than they were,” Tavares said. “There’s going to be some hurdles and some challenges currently [where] things stand and the way they present themselves. But yeah, [I’m] probably a little more uneasy, at least speaking for myself, than I was a number of weeks ago or a few months ago.”
We cannot blame him… It’s a tough decision to make, for sure. For players like Tavares and Pietrangelo who have already won Gold, it might be easier to make that call. For veteran guys like Steven Stamkos and Nathan MacKinnon though who have never had a chance to represent Canada at the Olympics, it’s a harder decision.
It’s all going to play in the players’ decision and what comes next for the Winter Games…
