Olympic gold was a dream come true for Brady Tkachuk, but it also included sleep woes, drug tests, and media scrutiny.
For the past two seasons, Senators captain Brady Tkachuk has had to watch from the stands as his brother Matthew won two Stanley Cups. But at the Winter Olympics in Milan last month, the two men played for Team USA and finally had the opportunity to celebrate a championship together.
However, even in the lead-up to a gold medal and the ensuing celebration, it sounds like Matthew still had it better than Brady.
First, during the tournament, on the night before the gold medal game, Brady says he had sleep paralysis, a temporary, conscious inability to move or speak while falling asleep or waking up. He spoke about it on the Pardon My Take podcast.
Then the next night, after the Americans won the gold medal, the Olympic drug tester was waiting, not for Matthew, of course, but for Brady. Brady was randomly selected and was 100 percent clean, but was super worried he was going to miss a meaningful amount of the celebration.
Finally, on his return home, he had a much tougher ride from the Ottawa and Canadian media than Matthew did back in Florida. Obviously, compared to Florida, Ottawa lives and breathes hockey, so the gold medal was one big topic.
But more than that, they wanted to get into the well-chronicled gold medal celebration controversies. Many fans in Canada were not happy with the captain of Ottawa's team celebrating with Donald Trump, who, among other things, wants to make Canada the 51st state.
In Florida, Matthew just had fun.
“[Matthew] is on a four-day bender, and I’m just sitting there under the microscope,” Brady said on the Pardon My Take podcast.
Matthew, who was also a show guest at the same time, quickly chimed in.
"Hey, Brady, we don't get asked these questions out here in Florida," Matthew said.
That may have been some simple chirping between brothers. But it will probably be perceived in some quarters as Matthew trying to entice his brother to come to play in Florida someday.
Tkachuk is under contract with the Senators until July 1, 2028, although he can sign an extension as early as July of next year.
Brady said last week that, even after the Olympic experience and everything that came with it, playing elsewhere hasn't even crossed his mind.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News