GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) — Czech Republic captain Martin Erat has played in the Olympics when the NHL sent it stars to the Winter Games, and he's here now without the NHL's best.
He sees every Olympic hockey tournament as an opportunity to win gold no matter who shows up.
That makes falling short of gold with a 3-0 loss Friday to the "Olympic athletes from Russia" in the semifinals so very disappointing.
"Every Olympics is wide open," Erat said. "It doesn't matter ... I been here when the NHL players all were here. I'm here now, and I think every Olympics got different stories, and this one we had a chance.