Olympic gold medalist in Evansville

American Men's Hockey Brings Home The Gold

Like many other Americans, I was up early on Sunday morning to watch the U.S.A. men's hockey team take on Canada in a bid to win gold. Also, like many other Americans, I'm not well-versed in the rules of the sport, but I'm a proud American who is always backing our team. As the game progressed, I found myself yelling at the TV, watching through my fingers, yelling "offsides" (because it's the same as soccer, so I knew that one), and holding my breath until the final goal was scored in overtime. While the players sang along to the national anthem, I found myself in tears, overwhelmed by the weight of the moment. I sang along, proudly. For the first time in 40 years, the American men's hockey team is Olympic gold medalists, or simply put, the best in the world. And one of those Olympic gold medal winners' fathers went to college in Evansville!

Crazy Evansville Connection To Olympic Gold

Townsquare Media has a crazy cool connection to this Olympic Gold...well, not us, but we're claiming him! Our Market Engineering Manager, Ben Davis, is Dylan Larkin's Uncle! What's even cooler (at least to me because it's tied to USI soccer, where I played for a year)? Dylan's father, Kevin, played soccer at USI, where he met Dylan's mother and Ben's sister, Denise. Larkin was drafted 15th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2014 NHL Draft. He's come a long way, now the captain of the Red Wings and a gold medal Olympian. If you know anything about hockey, you also know he had a major impact on the last play, but that may also be the opinion of a proud, allowed-to-be-biased Uncle. I was able to sit down with Uncle Ben and ask him a few questions about being the Uncle of an Olympian. Check out the interview below, as well as a collection of some of my favorite Dylan Larkin pics.

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Lori Mae: Have you ever played hockey against him? How did that go?

Ben: Since I can barely skate, I imagine it would be like being a lion’s prey. He’ll play with you and make you feel special until he gets bored and then destroys you!

Lori Mae: What was it like watching your nephew not only in the Olympics but also winning the gold medal in hockey?

Ben: I’m a little jaded since he’s competed internationally for over a decade, representing the United States, so in that regard, it was nothing new. But don’t get me wrong, I was jumping up and down, crying after they won. During the medal presentation, I had a huge grin on my face, and that was hands down the loudest I’ve ever sung the National Anthem!

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Lori Mae: What do you think he'll do with his gold medal?

Ben: I’m betting the family text chain will soon have pictures/video of my great niece either wearing it, or hanging from her crib mobile.

Lori Mae: What's a funny childhood story you share with your nephew or about your nephew?

Ben: Fighting is just a part of hockey. It’s akin to a rally cap in baseball. So whether they want to or not, a hockey player needs to know how to fight, and that comes easily to brothers. One Thanksgiving when the boys were maybe 6 & 9, we were downstairs watching football. I was on one end of the couch and Kevin on the other with the boys in between. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a blur of a hand sweep past and hear a “whack!” As I turned to see what happened, Kev and I were getting hit with stray kicks and punches. It looked like one of those cartoon fights between Kevin and me; a whirlwind of action with an arm and a leg poking out! The reason why? “He looked at me funny.”