Ryan Donato Turns Attention to Olympics

BOSTON - On Monday night, Bruins prospect Ryan Donato represented Harvard in the first round of the Beanpot.
On Wednesday, Donato will board a 14-hour marathon flight to South Korea to represent the USA in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
"I've been thinking about that a lot," Donato said of the long travel. "Fourteen hours is a pretty long time for a flight."

Despite the flight weighing on his mind, the Bruins' 2014 second-round pick has been doing his best to keep his attention on his Harvard team.
"My mentality was putting all of my time and energy and focus on the guys here," said Donato. "They deserve that. I want to give that to them and I did."
Donato has proven quite effective at focusing on his college hockey season. The 21-year-old has been a dynamic offensive threat for the Crimson, recording 21 goals (first in the NCAA) and 10 assists for 31 points in 23 games.
After Harvard's stinging 3-2 double-overtime loss to BU on Monday, Donato can finally allow himself to shift his focus.
"It's a little bitter," Donato said after the tough loss. "But at the end of the day, I'm obviously really excited and kind of want to focus my energy all on [the Olympics] now…At the end of that buzzer, all my energy and mentality kind of focuses on USA and hopefully competing for a gold."

When Donato steps foot in South Korea, he will be one of just four current college players to have made the final USA roster, which includes 15 former NHLers. Donato is joined by the University of Denver's Troy Terry, Will Borgen of St. Cloud State University and his Monday night foe, Jordan Greenway of Boston University.
In addition to the extensive NHL experience, many of Donato's Olympic teammates are also competing in the highest leagues around the world, including Russia, Sweden, Germany and the Czech Republic. Donato expressed excitement to skate alongside players gathering from across the globe.
"The whole experience," Donato said when asked what he was looking forward to. "Playing with guys that have been around the world playing hockey. They are veterans, they know the game better than anybody else.
"I think just being able to learn from them and putting into my own game and hopefully developing, I think that's one of the things I'm looking forward to and just hopefully having a chance to win gold is probably the main thing."