Wearing the home team’s sweater on the ice at the Air Canada Centre was something Steven Stamkos had long dreamed about.
Unfortunately for Toronto Maple Leafs fans, it wasn’t the blue and white he was interested in.
Team Canada’s rollicking debut at the World Cup of Hockey on Saturday held special meaning for the 26-year-old centre, who grew up just north of Toronto.
Stamkos was supposed be a key part of the Canadian team at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, but missed the Games after suffering a broken tibia in a game with his Tampa Bay Lightning a few months earlier.
Determined to play for Canada, Stamkos embarked on a grueling, exhaustive effort to recover in time to make the trip to Russia. Remarkably, he almost did it. But despite feeling physically and mentally ready to play, his doctors advised him that he was unable to attend.
“After I got the news that I wasn’t able to go [to Sochi] I had so much mental and physical energy wiped from me,” Stamkos says.
Instead of heading to Sochi, Stamkos spent the entire Olympic break on vacation in the Cayman Islands, dealing with the disappointment. He didn’t even watch Canada’s 1-0 win over their USA rival in the semi-final game.
But even in his disappointment, he couldn’t stay away from the gold medal game. He watched along with the rest of his home country as Canada beat Sweden to win a second straight Olympic gold medal.
“As soon as I saw it was on, I was like, Yeah I’m watching it,” he says. “Just to watch as a Canadian, nevermind a Canadian hockey player, it was just something … that was pretty cool.”
Still, it was bittersweet to watch a team he should have been a part of wearing those gold medals around their necks. Despite being sidelined, Hockey Canada gave Stamkos a team ring to honour the role he plays within the national program — and would have played in Sochi.
When he was named to Canada’s World Cup roster (to no one’s surprise) he was thrilled for another opportunity to wear the red and white sweater.
“This is something I was really looking forward to, ever since the Olympic dream was over for me,” he says. “[It] was circled on the calendar.”
But even that opportunity was fraught with health concerns. Stamkos was sidelined for nearly two months last spring after developing a dangerous blood clot in his right arm. He returned to the ice after recovering from surgery in time to dress for the Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final, which they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Now, with the health concerns behind him and a freshly signed long-term contract to remain with the Lightning, Stamkos says he’s physically and mentally prepared to represent Canada the way he’s always hoped to.
And while the nerves dissipated during Canada’s opening win against the Czech Republic in front of a boisterous home crowd, Stamkos admits that he had a hard time napping before the game. After all, the long delayed dream was about to become reality — and even for a superstar, it’s impossible to sleep through something like that.
