Olympic hockey player David Backes brings home 2 pooches from Sochi
ST. LOUIS - Team USA Olympic hockey player David
Backes and his wife returned home from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia,
with two new furry friends.
The couple brought back two stray
dogs from Sochi that kept showing up at the Olympic Village. Backes dubbed them
Sochi Junior and Sochi Jake.
When the Games ended, St. Louis Blues captain Backes and his wife Kelly, who started the charity Athletes for Animals, decided they couldn't leave their new canine friends behind. So they obtained the necessary paperwork and Sochi Junior and Sochi Jake flew home with them on Monday.
"These two lives aren't going to make a huge impact on the stray population of Sochi, we're well aware of that. But, the stories they can tell and the examples they can set for people is something that will be exponentially multiplied," Backes told reporters.
The two Sochi dogs will spend 30
days at the Five Acres Animals Shelter in St. Charles, Mo. During the
quarantine period, veterinarians will make sure the dogs don't have any disease
and will give them all the necessary shots. After that, they will be ready for
adoption.