OverDrive - Richards on his Olympic gold experience, captaining the WJC and the Canadian roster

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

Former Olympic Gold Medalist and World Juniors Captain Mike Richards joined OverDrive to discuss his experience winning with Canada, rewinding on the 2005 roster, accomplishing a gold medal at the tournament and the Olympics, the stories of Drew Doughty, Sidney Crosby's incredible career, Macklin Celebrini's role and more.

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former captain of the Canadian World Junior Squad as well, former Angeler, Mike Richards. Welcome into Overdrive. How's it going? Hey, not too bad, guys. How about you? We're doing great. We're just talking about how tonight Canada, Finland, big marquee game at the World Juniors, do you recall back

in your world junior days, you know, leading up to what would have been considered the marquee game, the big game for you, guys in the preliminary round? I don't know if there was one game. I think kind of early 2000s, Russia was always the team that gave us

Fits, U.S. a little bit. They beat us in the year before when we were in Finland in the gold medal game, but early 2000s, I think Russia was kind of one of the biggest threats to Canada, so any time those games played, it was always a big one. And when you think, about it. I mean, these guys are teenagers. You know, you've gone through it, Mike. You've,

you've had the great career. You've won at every level. But what was it like for you when you hadn't won and you were going into these high pressure moments with the maple leaf on your chest, knowing that nothing less than gold would be accepted? Like, what does that do to a teenage kid in his formative years as a pro? Yeah, yeah, it's tough. When I was there, I mean, that was 20 years ago. So there wasn't as much social. or there wasn't any social media. So it wasn't as in your face as it is now. I think it would be a lot harder to kind of disconnect

and separate yourself kind of from the tournament when you're back at the hotel. But I think at that age, you're kind of just naive enough to not pay attention to it as much. But at the same time, like you grew up watching the tournament, you know how important it is to us Canadians,

this tournament. You watch it from when you're, you know, five, six years old. I remember going in Winnipeg in 99. I think I was about 14 years old. So you grow up watching it. You can't help but think that how much the tournament means to, you know, fellow Canadians. So you can't really hide from it. I think you kind of have to try to get away from it a little bit when you're away from the rank and try to relax because, you know, it'll eat you alive if you keep thinking about it.

So the team usually does a pretty good job of once you get back to the hotel, year-round family, you can kind of try to separate a little bit, but there's no doubt, you know, this day and age with social media and everybody's got their phone, it's probably a little bit harder to separate. So as I mentioned prior, that 0405 World Junior Team that you were the captain of is arguably considered the greatest World Junior team ever assembled. Did you know that at the time? Like, was there a situation, a moment, I guess,

throughout the tournament or maybe pre-turn it where you looked around in the dressing room and you just thought man what a collection of players we got right now um i don't think in the moment we thought like that i think kind of what i mentioned before about you uh losing in finland the year before we had a three to one uh league going into a third period against the states um and we kind of choke that away and um i think kind of going into the following year we had that kind of bitter taste in our mouth. Like he said, the expectations of Canada winning.

So once we got, we had the pre-tournament in Winnipeg, so it was in Canada, too. So we were kind of around it. We knew some of the expectations at that point. Canada didn't win gold. I think it was five or six years before that too. So there was a little bit more added pressure. But we knew we had a good team. I think Bergeron, too, was playing in Boston and then got loaned back to us as

well. So we knew we would have a good team. And then once Bergey came back, we knew, you know, we were the team to beat or at least figured that we'd be the team to beat. And Brent Sutter didn't let us think like that. He's, you know, a typical Sutter coach. He just kind of drilled, drilled kind of the game plan and drilled basically every game what we had to do and didn't let us get too high.

So, you know, going into the. the finals against Russia. They had a good team, OV, and I think maybe Alkin was on that team too. So, you know, we weren't thinking that we were, you know, one of the best teams. We just wanted to get the gold medal. And at that age, that's all you really care about. Well, a huge day, Mike, in Canadian hockey, not only Canada, Finland tonight at the world juniors, but the selection being released of the Canada men's Olympic hockey squad,

You've been a member of that team way back in 2010. I'm wondering, do you have a story about the moment you found out you'd be playing for Canada at the 2010 Olympics? And what was that moment like? Yeah, it was crazy. Crazy that was 15 years ago now because just the whole scene in Vancouver was incredible. And I always say that that's one of the highlights in my life, not just playing career being in Vancouver for two weeks.

It was a pretty special time. I'm glad that the players get to go now and experience that, being around the different Olympians. But when I got the call, we had pre-game skate in New York at the Garden, and I remember getting off the ice pretty early, going to check the phone.

And I'm not sure if it was Kevin Lowe or it might have even been Doug Armstrong that left a message on my phone. To give him a call, he said that I made the team, and they give him a call. iron out some details and stuff like that. But you just get like a wave of excitement, I think, even being in New York and, you know,

being in the garden and being around that much media and then getting the call like that. It was something I'll never forget. I wish it would have saved the voicemail. But I think when you're in it, you're just kind of thinking ahead. And it was a pretty special moment. With Mike Richards, former Olympic gold medal, and a couple of your teammates from way back when 15 years ago still playing, still getting a chance to compete for a gold medal,

Sidney Crosby, Drew Dowdy, two players who were announced to this team that you played with back in 2010. How crazy is it to think that they're still playing at that high level after 15 years? Yeah, it's pretty wild. Like Sid, I played with in World Juniors, too. Like, I've been done playing, I think, for eight years now, maybe nine. And to see Sid at the top of this game. still night in

night out every single time I get a chance to watch him I do because it's just incredible of what he's done and Drew kind of being the same way last year watching the Four Nations and seeing what it meant to him to try to get back

as quick as he can from injury just to play on that team too so those guys are just like meant for those moments I wasn't surprised to see Drew or sit on that team it's just wild to see really both of them

at this stage just dominating the NHL still is pretty wild and Sid it looks like he could probably go another five maybe eight years playing at a high level he just has no sign of slowing down yet and I don't really expect him to

anytime soon hey Mike it's funny Drew Dowdy's been on social media telling a story about that that 2010-gold medal game and how he nearly missed it, having missed a couple of the buses to the rink in Vancouver and having to scramble to get there on time to hear Mike Babcock's pre-game speech.

And he mentioned in one of his interviews that you were one of the few people that realized he was actually late. What do you remember about that adventure from Mr. Dowdy? Yeah, adventure nonetheless. So I remember him getting to the rank and like, I mean, usually you do this in practice. Like when somebody's late, you kind of like messy their stall up a little bit, get their laundry out, make it look like they're there.

But you don't really expect to do it for a gold medal game. So once a couple of us noticed that Drew wasn't there, we started doing that, brought his laundry out into the hallway so he can change. And I remember him walking into the rink. He had like a light gray tent or a light gray suit on. and it was just absolutely drenched in sweat and he was so nervous and I was like

how could you sleep in for a gold medal game but I guess he had to get to the rank I forget how he got there but then obviously with the Olympics the security was so high so he couldn't get into the normal entrances he had to walk through a crowd

of people and like literally fans trying to get another rank that's how late he showed up and I mean And obviously, luckily, he got there. He obviously wasn't going to be benched in the gold medal game, but that's kind of drew in a nutshell. He can just throw his gear on, no cares in the world,

go on the ice, play 30 minutes, and dominate. So I think he has the personality of basically any time he plays, he's going to be the best because he's got no cares in the world. Well, he was the young buck of that team back in 2010. had Macklin Celebrini's, the young kid here, just 19 years old, forcing his way onto Team Canada. You know, what have you made of his emergence as a top talent here in the NHL? And what type of role do you expect for him to play? Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how the coaching staff kind of plays him,

because he can go up and down the lineup. He's such a smart player that I wouldn't be surprised if he's playing with Connor on the first line or, you know, you can go on a checking line with Sirelli or basically whoever John Cooper decides to put him with. But it's been pretty impressive. Like, I didn't watch a lot of the games last year full disclosure, just, you know, not in the best part of the standings to be in. But this year I've gotten to see him a few times.

And just the way he thinks the game, it kind of reminds me of fit, actually, when we used to have battles when I was in Philly and he was in Pitt, just the work ethic, the dog-on-a-bone mentality of just always kind of round the puck, seems to come out with it, not the biggest guy, but, you know, takes on contact. And it's crazy to believe he's only 19 years old and, excuse me, it's just going to get better once he starts kind of developing into his body a little bit more and gets a little bit more knowledge about where to be on the ice. it's pretty incredible.

And Mike, you know how a day like this is in Canada. We got 30-something million people and 30-something armchair GMs that are telling Dr. Armstrong, you know, where he made a mistake, who he should have had on this roster. You want to join the chorus? Anybody that you felt was a major snub by Team Canada? I'm a major snub.

I personally would have taken San Bennett. watching him what he did to start the game last year for the Four Nations. I thought that was huge for that team at that moment. And then to follow that up by winning the cons my trophy in the playoffs is kind of not too shabby. Either, but those guys picking the team have some hard decisions. I think there's lots of guys, Mark Schifley, another one in Winnipeg, who probably could have been there too. You know, those guys know what they're doing.

They got to really think of every single situation that, you know, the team might be in, in Italy, too. So, you know, it's not like you can just fly somebody in, too. So you got to think of all the fans or butts, and those guys seem to know what they're doing. But hopefully it works out, obviously, being Canadian, you want to see them do well. But those are two guys that I press.

would have taken on my team. Yeah, we've had that debate, and those seem to be the two guys that a lot of people seem to be going to bat for, but, you know, it's a talented group. I mean, there's a lot of talent here in Canada, especially at the four position. There was always going to be really good players who, unfortunately, missed out on the opportunity, but, you know, if injuries arise, I'm sure they'll have their numbers pretty close by, and, you know, maybe they'll find their way at some point. Mike, really appreciate to take a time to join us today for a chat,

and happy New Year to you and your family. Yeah, thanks, guys. Hope you guys have a good New Year's, and thanks for having me on. Absolutely. Mike Richards, former Olympic gold medalist, World Junior Captain, joining us on the Maple Toyota hotline, get in and go where adventure takes you in a new 2025 Tacoma for Maple Toyota, near Canada's Wonderland in the Maple Auto Mall.

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