While Team Canada was decked out in black and red this morning in their 5-1 win over Germany to open their Olympic men’s hockey tournament, there was also some green and gold just beneath the surface.
That Edmonton Elks connection comes courtesy Brian Cheeseman, who was manning the Canadian bench as an athletic therapist. The Mount Pearl, Newfoundland native is in Beijing after completing his inaugural season with the Elks as the team’s Director of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation.
“It’s an incredible opportunity and an incredible experience. You’re not only representing your country, but you’re representing your organization, your adopted hometown, and you’re actual hometown,” Cheeseman said last month, just prior to heading to Switzerland for Canada’s pre-Olympic camp.
“I have not stopped smiling since I was told about this opportunity and I’m not sure I will until long after it’s over.”
Cheeseman has plenty of bubble experience, including during the 2021 World Junior Hockey Championships here in Edmonton. Photo credit: Brian Cheeseman.
A trip to the Olympics is the latest international event for Cheeseman, who’s spent the last decade working his way through the Hockey Canada ranks.
“It’s an incredible opportunity and there are people that train and work their whole lifetimes in various disciplines of sports – training, strength and conditioning, physical therapy, athletic therapy – that don’t get this opportunity,” Cheeseman pointed out.
“It’s an opportunity that’s not lost on me that I’m very fortunate to have. It’s been an incredible decade for me of having these opportunities at the under-17, the under-18, and the World Junior level. Now to be able to say I’m part of an Olympic men’s hockey team is surreal.”
Cheeseman was part of Canada’s staff at the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo, where Canada captured gold. Photo credit: Brian Cheeseman.
The last 12 months have been a whirlwind for Cheeseman, who joined the Elks in May after spending the previous 11 seasons as head athletic therapist for the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League.
A trip to the Olympics will be a dream come true for Cheeseman, who’s no stranger to bubble sports after a year inside the CFL bubble, and previous experiences in the NHL’s Edmonton bubble and the 2021 World Junior Hockey Championships.
Now, he finds himself inside the Beijing Olympic bubble, where he’s hoping to enjoy as much of the Olympic experience as possible.
“Take lots of pictures and soak it all in, because as quickly as it happens it’s going to be all over and you may never get the opportunity again. It’s all about staying present and enjoying it as much as you can within the realm of COVID and everything else that’s going on in the world,” Cheeseman explained, who’s wife Adrienne has supported him through all of his bubble exploits.
With a year of CFL experience under his belt, Cheeseman will be looking to return to the Elks this spring with plenty of Olympic memories, but also a few more tricks of the trade.
“With any of these short-term competitions when you get the opportunity to work with people from other organizations and other parts of the country, there’s always an exchange of ideas and there’s always that hot stove mentality,” Cheeseman explained.
“Everybody always has a different approach to how they treat an injury, or rehab a player and working these types of events with other athletic therapists allows you to kind of broaden your view a little bit and take a bigger picture look at athlete care.”
“When you think you have everything figured out in life, you really don’t. Especially when it comes to sports therapy it’s always important to approach things with an open mind.”