Mike Smith had just finished his worst season of his career, and was invited to play goal for the Canadian team in the IIHF World Championship. Part of him said, “I’ve already won a gold medal with the Olympics (even if I didn’t get into a game), so I really don’t need to do this.” And then another part of him said,” I really need to work some more on my game, so maybe I should play… besides another gold medal is not a bad thing.”
This go around Smitty started and won eight out of the ten games (all won by Team Canada), and was rewarded with a gold medal.