Clark determined to bring home gold as veteran member of Olympic hockey team

Emily Clark has waited four years for another opportunity at winning Olympic gold.

After debuting with the Canadian women’s hockey program in 2014, the Saskatoon product was chosen to play for the Canadian Olympic hockey team in 2018 at Pyeongchang, South Korea, where her childhood dreams of hearing the anthem play with a gold medal around her neck fell just short.

Canada lost 3-2 to its archrival, the United States, in the gold-medal game and settled for silver.

Even though Clark is considered a mainstay on the team now, hearing her name called to represent Canada once again at Beijing 2022 was a thrill.

“We have a really special group this year with their eyes on a gold medal. With the countdown clock going and knowing how close it is, the focus shifts to the task at hand,” she told the Green Zone’s Jamie Nye and Drew Remenda before heading to China.

COVID-19 wasn’t around during the last Olympics, and it’s sure to upend the Games this time around as athletes, used to their meticulous routines, are mandated to take rapid antigen and PCR tests throughout the Games.

Taking the test isn’t a problem for Clark. However, waiting 15 minutes for the rapid antigen results to tell you if you can continue your Olympic dream or return home is an entirely different challenge.

“I think everyone around the world right now is probably a little bit anxious with the climate with COVID,” she said from the team’s bubble in Calgary ahead of the Games.

“It is difficult, but we’ve just got to put our trust in the professionals we have around us and the protocols we do have. We still have an Olympics to prepare for, so you have to manage your energy and where your thoughts are.

“It definitely is a different lead-up to the Olympics than last time, but as long as we get to compete, then we’re all good.”

Since women’s hockey was made an Olympic sport in 1998, Canada and the United States have played in five of the six gold-medal games, with Canada winning four.

The tournament is once again set for the two giants of international women’s hockey to play for gold once again.

“I think it’s going to be exactly what’s expected, considering the past,” Clark said of the rivalry between the two teams.  “Obviously everything gets heightened when you’re playing on the same ice surface with the Olympic rings.”

Clark figures her experience playing against the Americans multiple times throughout the last Olympic cycle will only benefit her and the team in Beijing.

“Knowing the magnitude of it but being able to try to focus (is key). We’ve played thousands of hockey games and the game’s not different when you get there. Just the ice surface is a little bigger,” Clark said.

Canada’s first game of the preliminary round is against Switzerland on Wednesday.