Flyers captain Claude Giroux was left off Canada's Olympic hockey team, even though only one Canadian in the world has scored more points than Giroux over the last 2.5 years.
"It upsets me. It was one of my dreams to be in the Olympics. But that's behind me now and I'm just excited for the year," Giroux said.
Coincidence or not, since the Olympic snub, Giroux has been arguably the best player in hockey. Nobody has scored more points since December.
"He's had a chip on his shoulder ever since not being named to the team," Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds said.
"Coincidence is a big factor," Giroux said.
Giroux is still not sure what he will do during the near three week Olympic break which starts Sunday. But the Flyers captain knows that he has to stay in shape because when hockey resumes, the team will be in the middle of a playoff race.
"We want to keep going. We have a great team. But it's still a lot of work ahead of us to make it to the playoffs," defenseman Mark Streit said.
That's where Giroux's focus will be while a handful of his teammates head to Sochi, Russia next week.
