If you are anything like me, which you probably are considering you are reading this website on the last day of July, two things are true. First, you are missing Golden Knights hockey very badly and are anxiously counting the days until it returns. Second, because there’s nothing better on TV, you are locked into the Olympics every morning cheering on Team USA (or Canada if you are into that sort of thing).
So, let’s get a little weird and combine the two. Here’s who I think would be best in each Olympic event.
Badminton – Ben Hutton
Sneakily has some of the best hands on the team.
Beach Volleyball – Nic Roy
Height, quickness, hands. Love the prospects of Nic Roy putting on a show on the sand.
Boxing – Nic Hague
Pull up some of his fights, especially before he got to the NHL. Take him off the skates, put him in a real ring, and I bet he’d be even better.
BMX – Alexander Holtz
Every hockey player knows how to ride a bike, with excellent coaching from VGK superfan and former gold medalist Connor Fields, Holtz will dominate this just like Connor did.
Breaking – Tomas Hertl
Fun must be always and what’s more fun than competitive break dancing?
Canoe Slalom – Gregori Denisenko
Highly doubt anybody on the roster would stand a chance of not drowning in this event. But it’s so awesome we need someone in it, so Gregori, strap in.
Equestrian – Adin Hill
I’ll be honest, I just think the idea of a giant goalie on a horse is funny. We’re probably screwed in this event anyway, we might as well have a little fun.
Fencing – Noah Hanifin
It’s all about movement (I think, I’ve watched like 3 hours of fencing and I still don’t really have any clue what’s going on), and not many move as well as Noah.
Soccer – William Karlsson
There’s a realistic shot that if Karlsson stopped playing hockey right now and switched to soccer he would be a pretty darn good professional player. Hopefully, The Creator never asks him to try out for Bournemouth.
Golf – Alex Pietrangelo
There might be better golfers on the team (I’ll stress might cause now that Stephenson is gone maybe Pietrangelo is the best) but Alex would be livid if he wasn’t assigned to golf, so he gets the nod to keep team camaraderie high.
Handball – Victor Olofsson
Europeans love handball. I wish Americans did too. It’s great.
Judo – Ilya Samsonov
Dude is 6’3” 220, good luck moving him around.
Pentathlon – Jack Eichel
There’s literally no athletic event I wouldn’t back Eichel to succeed in. So, let’s make him do all of them.
Rowing – Jonas Rondbjerg
17 Danish Olympians are competing in rowing this year. I’m assuming they are all awesome at it.
Rugby – Ivan Barbashev
Does this sport not seem perfect for Barbashev?
Skateboarding – Brett Howden
Something about Howden’s personality and look just makes me think he’d be good at this. (This is a roundabout way of saying Howden looks like a cool guy.)
Surfing – Brendan Brisson
Give me the California kid for surfing all day every day.
Swimming – Shea Theodore
Shea makes moving on frozen water look incredibly easy. Fingers crossed he can do it in the melted stuff too.
Table Tennis – Mark Stone
Aside from the fact that I know he’s very good at it, ping pong is the perfect sport to maximize Stone’s strengths and weaknesses. Honestly though, put Mark Stone in anything and I’m sure he’ll dominate.
Tennis – Zach Whitecloud
Tennis is such a respectful sport. Whitecloud would fit in perfectly.
Trampoline – Pavel Dorofeyev
I have no logical reason behind this one, just makes sense in my mind so we are going with it.
Volleyball – Brayden McNabb
I’ll be honest, I just went for the tallest guy and Hague was already taken for boxing.
Wrestling – Keegan Kolesar
You might think boxing, but Kolesar is actually better at grabbing people and throwing them around like rag dolls than he is punching them in the face.