U.S. speed skater Brian Hansen on mission to find every Blackhawk in Sochi

The cool thing about the athletes' village at the Olympic Games is the inter-mingling of the competitors from the various sports. Skiiers hanging out with lugers. Figure skaters chilling with curlers. Speed skaters kickin' it with hockey players. It's one big happy environment.

For U.S. speed skater Brian Hansen, other than leaving with a medal or two, his goal in Sochi has been to meet every player there from his favorite NHL team: the Chicago Blackhawks. With less than a week to go before the Games close, Hansen is close to fulfilling his mission.

There are 10 Blackhawks in Sochi and Hansen has so far met and taken a picture with seven of them.

It started with Marian Hossa...

... and continued with Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya:

Hansen has also checked off Marcus Kruger, Michal Roszival and Michal Handzus from his list.

His latest was Monday when he met up with Patrick Sharp:

Hansen actually got into speed skating as a 10-year old while he was playing hockey at Northbrook Speed Skating Club in Northbrook, Illinois. Almost 14 years later, he is the owner of a team pursuit silver medal from the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. He's competed in three events in Sochi, but did not medal.

All that's left now on Hansen's checklist are Canada's Duncan Keith and Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane of the U.S.

Stick-tap Nina Falcone

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Sean Leahy

is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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