The Capitals defenseman returned from his first time playing on the Olympic stage, where he helped Slovakia to a fourth-place finish.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — Martin Fehervary remembers when he was a kid growing up in Bratislava, Slovakia, tuning in to watch the greats like Ľubomír Višňovský, Zdeno Chara and Marian Hossa represent their country. Little did he know at the time that 20 years later, things would come full circle.
Fehervary is fresh off his first Olympic games, where he served as an assistant captain for Slovakia and helped the country to an impressive run.
Slovakia, despite not being a favorite, dominated in group play and made a run all the way to the bronze medal game, where it came up short to Finland for a fourth-place finish.
Still, Fehervary, who had four assists in six games, was proud of how his nation stacked up.
"Our odds were not really great before the tournament. We went pretty much all the games as an underdog," Fehervary said. "We had such a good group of guys. We were just enjoying the time together and battling for each other, and the results kind of came step by step. Overall, we just had so much fun, and it was a great experience."
The 26-year-old isn't a big materialist, so didn't really take home many souvenirs from his time in Milan Cortina. However, the biggest takeaway from his time on the international stage was how he was able to impact the next wave of hockey players from Slovakia.
"I remember when I was young and we were watching (the games)... it's just so nice to see all the young kids, how they like the hockey," Fehervary said. "I think hockey's the number one sport in Slovakia, so I hope there's going to be more people and more young kids going to play hockey. And hopefully, we're going to have more talented guys coming out.
"We know our Slovakian fans are really, really crazy and they're really passionate about the hockey, so we knew they were going to probably come for all the games... it's great to see the people are cheering for you and how supportive everyone is back home. It was just so nice to see."
Fehervary was joined by Washington teammates Tom Wilson and Logan Thompson, competing for Canada, in Italy, but also had several family members there to cheer him on. His girlfriend and newborn daughter, Anna, stayed back home in D.C., and Anna took in her first Capitals practice on Tuesday.
Looking back at the experience, which capped off a hectic few weeks for Fehervary, it's one that he'll carry with him forever.
"It wasn't my first international, but the Olympics is completely different. All the athletics you can see in the village and how the people are talking about it. Everyone is just really, really excited about it," Fehervary said. "It's nice to be there and have that experience. I'm really happy I could've done it, and hopefully, I'll do a couple more."