It was a memorable ride for Andrew Sachkiw.
The North Bay Battalion athletic therapist and equipment manager was part of Canada's Under 18 team which captured gold on August 7 defeating Sweden 4-1 in the final of the U18 Gretzky/Hlinka tournament.
Sachkiw's three-week journey started in Calgary for the event that took place in Red Deer, Alberta.
"We just swept the tournament," Sachkiw says about the event.
"The guys truly played as one team and they listened to what the coaches wanted and doing all the little things and there was no issues. At that stage, they can all be on a first line and there was not complaining about ice time."
For Sachkiw, this is not his first stint with Team Canada. In 2015, he was part of Team Canada White which captured gold at the Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Dawson Creek, B.C.
"It was a great experience, unbelievable staff, and Hockey Canada takes care of everything," he said.
"It was fun to watch and a gold medal at the end."
While players and coaches prepare for their opponents, Sachkiw's job as a trainer is making sure he knows as much as he can about each of the Canadian players.
"We get in touch with the players before the camp even starts and get the inside on what their health background is and their current status," he said.
"You hope that these guys in late July and early August, they are in the best shape of their live right now. Hopefully they have rebounded and recovered from their long seasons and they are healthy. I would get in touch with them to have that first introduction so when they arrived it was just business as usual."
Sachkiw did admit his Hockey Canada experience was a little different due to the Hockey Canada controversy relating to Canada's World Junior teams in 2018 and 2003 that are under investigation.
"The managers and staff addressed it immediately when we arrived," said Sachiw.
"They laid out everything that is going on. We had nothing to do with it obviously but it was addressed and the media did address the players too.
Aside from that topic, Sachkiw says it was business as usual.
"With COVID-19 the last two years I don't anything can really surprise these guys. We had code of conducts we had to sign. There were a few different videos. There were certifications we had to bring to camp just to be able to participate. Once we were there we had another zoom call and we went over everything. It is really all the stuff that went on in our league deal with as well."
Sachkiw now hopes to help keep the Battalion players healthy and he would like nothing more than an OHL championship trophy to sit nicely next to the two gold medals on his mantle.
