It was a dream come true for Morden's Chay Genoway as the local hockey player represented Team Canada at the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea.

"It was really exciting on a lot of fronts," said Genoway.

Genoway said being able to be part of more than just Team Canada's Hockey team, but Team Canada as a whole, cheering on other Canadian athletes and watching other sports were all great experiences.

In addition to all of this, having his family in attendance, being a support system for him throughout the whole games experience was truly special.

"My family was sitting front row by their bench (South Korea). I happen to be on the ice when we scored one of the goals. We were celebrating right in front of them and I knew they were there because I had seen them earlier in the game. I kind of gave them a look at the glass and they were pretty excited about that. It was a great moment to share as a family."

The entire country (36 million people) of Canada was watching to see how the athletes faired in PyeongChang.

Being able to represent your country is a great Honour and Genoway was thrilled to be able to do so, but his excitement also came with a few butterflies.

"I got some of the emotions out of the way at the opening ceremonies. That was kind of the first big stage. I had a little bit of goosebumps and excitement with that," said Genoway.

It was only a couple of days after the opening ceremonies when Team Canada laced them up for their first game of the tournament against Switzerland. Again Genoway said those butterflies showed up for the first little while, but once the game got underway his hockey instincts took over and it was just like any other game he's played.

"I think you have an extra gear when you're wearing the Maple Leaf and you know a lot of the country, family, and friends are watching," said Genoway. "It's definitely not hard to play hard out there."

Canada defeated the Swiss 5-1 to open the tournament. Their second game was a tough 3-2 shootout loss to the Czech Republic. Game three of the tournament of the Canadians saw a match against the host South Korea, where Canada shut out Korea 4-0. It was also in this game where Genoway would notch his first point with an assist on Christian Thomas' goal in the first period.

Canada Finished the round robin with a 2-0-0-1 record and one point back of the Czech Republic in Group "A".

In the quarterfinals, the Canadians edged Finland 1-0 and were set to face the Germans in the semi-finals. Canada would eventually lose this game 4-3 and would play for bronze the following day against the Czech Republic.

"We just didn't have a great start against the Germans and to lose that game was extremely emotional and a very sad moment," said Genoway. "We felt like we had this huge opportunity for a gold medal slip away."

"Here we had to play a bronze medal game less than 24 hours later. To find the energy to take a major low and get the energy back up to realize you get to play for a bronze medal and do something very special, took the whole 20 hours."

After decompressing and doing their best to put the previous day's loss behind them, Canada went back to work and defeated the Czech Republic 6-4 to capture the bronze medal.

"I think all of us are so proud of how we played that last game, based on how difficult it was the night before," said Genoway. "We just knew it was something that was an opportunity of a lifetime to bring home some hardware."

Genoway continued to say being able to reverse the emotions after winning the bronze medal game. It was a very sad and emotional time after their loss to Germany in the semifinals, but to go up and change the mood to the excitement with a medal instead of defeat was a great feeling.

Genoway said he took the medal with him back to Russia, where he plays in the KHL during the rest of the year, and the reception he's got from everyone there has been tremendous. He continued to say with the number of people who want to see it, hold it, and take a picture with it, it's starting to set in about how special it really is.

"I'm really proud I was able to be a part of it," said Genoway.

Photo submitted by Chay Genoway