Matinpalo Heads Home With Gold and a Full Summer Ahead

Matinpalo is heading home with a gold medal packed in the bag, which is about as good an offseason souvenir as it gets. NHL.com frames the trip as a summer return, but the real story is what that kind of win does to a player’s confidence and reputation. Summer breaks in this sport are never just vacations, because the next season starts the moment the gear goes into storage. For Matinpalo, the medal changes the tone of the whole trip back home.