NHL players from several countries stopped at the Olympic Village, ate at the cafeteria and checked out their rooms.<\/p>\n
Tkachuk had his camcorder out again.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the athletes in there actually really liked it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were waving at it. I tried to get them to say their name and what sport they\u2019re with. We\u2019ve only had one meal there and only had a couple hours but met a lot of people that are really nice. It\u2019s really, really cool to get to know them.<\/p>\n
\u201cKind of toured it all. It\u2019s wild. It\u2019s a wild place, and it\u2019s been really just cool to see everything. You dream as a young kid playing in the Olympics, the Olympic Village, being around the other best athletes in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, can\u2019t believe I\u2019m a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team Canada forward Mark Stone<\/a> said he chatted with some speedskaters about their sport.<\/p>\n \u201cI asked probably more questions in a 10-minute span talking with them than I have asked about hockey in the last 20 years,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just fascinating to be a part of it, to be a part of more than just a hockey team. You\u2019re part of a country that\u2019s all competing for gold medals and bronze medals and silver medals, really just competing for a country. It\u2019s a special feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n NHL players usually stay in single rooms in posh hotels on the road. Here, they are doubling up in spartan rooms in the Olympic Village, and they\u2019re loving it. It\u2019s like a college dorm in d\u00e9cor and decorum.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s minimalistic, but it\u2019s got everything we need,\u201d Sweden forward Lucas Raymond<\/a> said. \u201cIt\u2019s got a bed, a bathroom. Yeah, I mean, I think that\u2019s a part of it. I think that\u2019s part of the experience, being in the Olympic Village. It\u2019s a fun tournament and fun to hang out with all the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n Raymond is rooming with defenseman Rasmus Dahlin<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if he\u2019s a snorer,\u201d Raymond said, \u201cbut we\u2019ll find out tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n That might not be the only noise issue. In the U.S. area, across the hall from brothers Jack and Quinn Hughes<\/a> are the Tkachuk brothers, Brady and Matthew.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we hear someone go through a wall in the middle of the night,\u201d Eichel said, \u201cwe probably know where it came from.\u201d<\/p>\n As if all that weren\u2019t special enough, there was practice. The Olympic rings were everywhere — on the ice, on the boards, on video boards, on banners. In Santagiulia Arena, the main rink, they loomed large in one end zone.<\/p>\n