Throughout the Winter Olympics, Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy is giving readers of The Athletic an inside look at Team USA.
At 28 years old, McAvoy, a former Boston University standout and three-time gold medalist in international tournaments, is in his ninth full NHL season. Last weekend, he was named one of Auston Matthews’ two alternate captains at the Olympics, with Matthew Tkachuk being the other.
Here’s his third diary entry, edited for clarity and length, as told to senior writer Michael Russo. His first can be found here and his second can be found here.
MILAN — We got back from dinner last night and a couple of us turned on the figure skating because we wanted to see the Quad God.
He was just getting his score, but we didn’t really see exactly what happened. But obviously I know he probably didn’t have the run that he wanted to. I felt so bad for him. He’s such a talented kid and you work so hard for this.
For him, obviously there’s stuff in the meantime, but it’s not the Olympics.
I hate to say it like this, but it’s a wake-up call for us.
We know we’ve talked a lot about not letting this opportunity get away from us every four years. So I feel terrible for him that he didn’t have his best day on the biggest day, but he’ll get another chance. I think he’s really young, and a great competitor, and to bring it back to us, we came here for one reason.
We know we have to bring our best every single day. To represent our country with pride and try our best to achieve the ultimate.
Against Latvia, we played a good game and you saw a bunch of guys who played for each other and sacrificed for the good of the team.
We have to keep doing that and I’m looking forward to tonight’s game against Denmark.
I’m playing with Quinn Hughes, and other than I think a couple shifts at the World Championship before, this is the first time I’ve played with him.
But other than that, I haven’t really played with him. He’s an amazing player, so I’m just trying to read off him and try and give him the puck in spots where he can use all his skill and try and space out well with him up top and just read off him well. I thought we played really good together, and he’s definitely a unique player. He has small world skill. He’s one of the best defensemen in hockey, and I think part of that is his ability to kind of freelance a little. So for me it’s just about trying to read off him, put him in spots so he can do that and just make big plays around him.
I know a lot was made of me playing (Sandis Vilmanis) the other night for the first time since he hit me in the jaw in Florida. He did apologize after the game. I probably shouldn’t get into it because what he said was between us, but I appreciated it.
It’s been a fun time so far. My wife and baby are here. I’m so happy that they’re here and can experience this honor with me.
My parents, too. We all hung out yesterday. We went down by the Duomo area and just had a lot of fun bouncing around, and went to lunch. Then I went to dinner with my wife.
I’m feeling really, really grateful for everybody in my life that helped me get here.