MILAN (AP) \u2014 What do golf carts have to do with hockey at the Milan Cortina Olympics? Turns out, they are essential equipment.<\/p>\n
The trip from the locker rooms to the ice at the main hockey arena is so long that the heavily padded goaltenders get to ride in style in golf carts while their teammates make the mildly awkward walk in skates. Like bullpen carts for relief pitchers in baseball, it\u2019s an express trip with a bit of whimsy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have a quick ride like you\u2019re on a golf course before stepping onto the ice,\u201d France\u2019s Antoine Keller said. \u201cI find it funny. I like it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keller is not alone. Women\u2019s counterpart Alice Philbert and Italy\u2019s Martina Fedel were the first to get chauffeured over for a game when they played the curtain raiser at Milano Santagiulia Arena on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so fun,\u201d Philbert said. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time, but it\u2019s so fun. We feel like we are pro players, so that\u2019s fun for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The netminders already on site are enjoying the four-wheeled ride, and those coming from the NHL can look forward to it after they arrive Sunday. Anaheim\u2019s Lukas Dostal was the first over from the league to get the honor before Czechia\u2019s practice on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mind it,\u201d Dostal said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to save your legs, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
The setup in Milan has the locker rooms in a separate building from the game arena, so players need to actually go outside. The idea came from previous world championships, including last year in Herning, Denmark, when golf carts were also used.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have this situation here (where) it\u2019s a permanent dressing room outside from the main arena, it was our decision, I don\u2019t know, a year ago, OK, we organize this service for equipment managers and for goalies with these golf carts,\u201d said Igor Nemecek, the sport manager for hockey at the Olympics. \u201cEverything is very good, and nobody have a problem with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quite the contrary, other than perhaps making the skaters who have to hoof it jealous. Maybe there\u2019s room for a couple of stowaways, but this is a goalie-centric service.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel special,\u201d Latvia\u2019s Kristers Gudlevskis said. \u201cI feel thankful that I don\u2019t need to walk. And especially, if you need skate guards and everything, it\u2019s just such a pain.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is something of a bumpy five-minute ride with no seatbelts. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re just all in your equipment, you can almost not move,\u201d Keller said. \u201cIt\u2019s still a long distance, but you have some strong core (muscles) because it\u2019s moving. You\u2019ve got to hold on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Veteran Swiss goalie Reto Berra heard about the golf carts but was disappointed not to ride one because he and his teammates were at the nearby practice rink instead. Berra was delighted to hear it was true, especially after fond memories of riding a golf cart at worlds in 2013 when the Swiss won a medal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love golf carts,\u201d Berra said. \u201cWho doesn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Winter Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/p>\n
Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN (AP) \u2014 What do golf carts have to do with hockey at the Milan Cortina Olympics? Turns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-457631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}