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Nathan MacKinnon isn't leaving anything to chance.
The Colorado Avalanche is at the Winter Olympics as one of the stars for Canada's men's hockey team. He isn't concerning himself with anything else that's happening in Milan.
Nope, MacKinnon is laser-focused on the hockey.
In a story by The Athletic that came out Monday, MacKinnon was asked if he has to "take this all in."
"No," MacKinnon answered.
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He also elaborated.
"I want to enjoy myself, but I'm not here to enjoy myself," MacKinnon said. "I'm going to do everything I can to play well, and hopefully it's enough and hopefully I can contribute."
His Canadian teammates will certainly appreciate that mindset from one of the best players in the world, who had four goals in the 4 Nations Faceoff across four games. This season for the Avalanche, MacKinnon has 40 goals and 53 assists in 55 games.
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There is certainly a lot to see and do at the Olympics, if athletes want to take part. In this case, it sounds like MacKinnon will be a lot more focused inward to make sure he maximizes his performance.
Canada is the favorite to win the gold medal, most heavily rivaled by the United States. MacKinnon doesn't want to mess around with a scenario where he doesn't give his full attention and that costs the gold medal.
It's a business trip for MacKinnon, that's for sure.
More Olympics news:
- This U.S. luge star was parodied on SNL
- NBC's drone cameras have everyone's attention
- The Winter Olympics mascots are adorable
- Mike Tirico had a crazy flight to get from the Super Bowl to the Olympics
- Chloe Kim has to make an adjustment at Olympics for injury
- Breezy Johnson won a gold medal for the U.S., and then she broke it
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