If they’ve organized an international hockey tournament in the last 16 years, Patrick Kane usually has been there wearing a Team USA jersey. He has won gold in the world under-18s, silver at the Olympics, bronze at the World Junior Championship and a tournament MVP award from the IIHF World Championships.
Kane recently believed he might have been in line for a leadership role at the Olympics in February on a young, talented U.S. team and one last chance at gold. Now, that seems unlikely. Per multiple reports, including from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, NHL players will not participate in the Beijing Olympics because of concerns involving COVID-19. An official announcement is possible this week.
“It’s just a tough situation for everybody,” Kane said Tuesday. “You’re excited to be able to get the chance to represent your country. Obviously, I’m 33 right now, so you’re hoping you can play as many as possible but I don’t know if it would’ve really been a true Olympics experience this year with being in a bubble and with all the worries going over there. We’ll see what happens but definitely fortunate to play in Sochi, and Vancouver was just unbelievable. I don’t think the Olympic experience will be even close to comparable to what we had there in 2010. We’ll see what happens, but you always want to represent your country every time you get a chance.”