MILAN — Every Canadian from Shoresy to Connor McDavid knows: You gotta set the tone.
And so, perhaps with 12 years worth of pent-up anticipation, we shouldn’t have been surprised that the greatest hockey player on the grandest hockey stage delivered not a goal but a glass-rattling hit in his debut Olympic shift.
McDavid, the fastest thing east of the Milano Ice Skating Arena, soared first on the forecheck, a tiger uncaged.
He crushed poor Czech defenceman Lukas Sedlak on a retrieval, then drew a retaliatory holding penalty seconds later.
“You know what? When guys pull their country’s jersey on, it’s a bolt that goes through,” McDavid explained, in the wake of Thursday’s breakneck 5-0 victory over Czechia. “Just trying to contribute any way I can.”
When McDavid returned to Canada’s bench alongside his wingers, Brad Marchand turned to Tom Wilson: “Great hit, Willy.”
“I didn’t hit anybody,” Wilson replied. “That was Connor.”
That was Connor. A trio of assists were also Connor.
But this opening salvo was very much a collective effort.
For what unfolded at Milano Santagiulia was a wrecking-ball performance by one of the two favoured nations in this oft-delayed NHL reunion to the five-ring circus.
Canada received goals from forwards on all four of coach Jon Cooper’s fearsome lines. The world’s most attractive power-play connected like poetry on a Sidney Crosby–to McDavid–to Nathan MacKinnon bang-bang-bang play. And the slumping Jordan Binnington pitched a 26-save shutout.
They hit with purpose. They dazzled with setups; Mitch Marner’s backhand saucer pass to Mark Stone over a sprawling David Spacek is the stuff of memories. And they never let up. Eleven players hit the scoresheet by the time the dust settled.
That group included seldom-used fourth-line centre Bo Horvat, who scored a silky five-hole goal and suffered a cut under his eye but may not recover from his pinch-me moment.
“I’d fill up water bottles to be here,” said Horvat postgame, then walked off to count his stitches.
The youngest NHLer in the entire tournament was seven the last time an active player from the league scored an Olympic goal. He got Canada’s first of the tournament, deftly tipping a Cale Makar point shot past goalie Lukas Dostal with just 5.7 seconds remaining in the first period.
“He’s one of the best players in the world, regardless of his age. He’s a top five, seven player in the world. No question,” MacKinnon said. “So, him and Connor dominated. Sid dominated with (Marner) and Stone. You know, what a treat to be able to watch those guys go to work and just take control of the game.”
Stone, McDavid, and MacKinnon all sang the praises of Celebrini’s maturity, his readiness for the moment.
“His preparation, it’s impressive. It’s amazing to see someone at 19 be that dialed into their off-ice, their on-ice, their everything. So, I think everyone can learn from him, even though he’s 19,” MacKinnon went on.
Could MacKinnon imagine himself thriving at age 19 in this environment?
“No, no,” he replied. “I sure can’t.”
“I was an idiot. No, no. Not good enough, not mature enough, not anything enough.”
At first blush, Team Canada is everything enough.
A veritable wagon: fast and strong, relentless and stingy.
Wilson revealed there was an opportunity to fight, but the potentially loose cannon doesn’t want to leave this party early.
Heck, McDavid alone created more scoring chances (14) than Czechia (12).
The role players rolled. The stars starred. And the goalie stopped all the rubber.
“I believe that was the goal, that was the plan. You’re not sure how it’s going to work out. I thought everybody contributed in their own way,” Cooper said of his lineup.
“You need that. To me, in this tournament, you need depth. And if you can go four lines deep, and kind of push play in your favour, you give yourself that chance. I thought that happened tonight.”
Canada goes back-to-back Friday versus Switzerland, who blanked France 4-0 in Thursday’s early game.
“I would expect a great game. They played well today. They got a lot of great players, too,” McDavid said, refusing to rest on his laurels or leave a Czech unfinished.
“Beat us at world championships. They’ve been knocking on the door for a long time. I would expect a similar game.”
Perfect, Canadians think.
• Josh Morrissey left Canada’s game in the second period due to injury. The defenceman tried coming back but couldn’t. No immediate update on his status was given.
Travis Sanheim is the next man up for Canada, and now that the tournament has begun, no more injury replacements are permitted.
A potential crushing blow for Morrissey, who also got sick ahead of the 4 Nations Face-Off final.
“That was the biggest game of my life, and I didn’t want to miss that game. It was crushing,” Morrissey said. “But at the same time, when we were at the rink sitting there and things weren’t improving, it would’ve been selfish of me to go out there and hurt the team.”
• Canada’s whites look leagues better than their red sweaters with the black Maple Leaf.
• It didn’t take long for Brandon Hagel to get promoted into the top six and for Florida’s Sam Reinhart to drop to the fourth line, as Cooper works toward the optimal combinations.
Mind you, the snarl level of a Marchand – Sam Bennett – Hagel line, which we saw briefly, flies off the charts. Internally and externally.
Surely, it’s only a coincidence that three of Cooper’s least-used players, Bennett (7:19), Marchand (9:29), and Reinhart (10:01) are all Florida Panthers.
• Marchand says he won’t be wearing a neck guard once he gets back on the other side of the Atlantic: “It’s always kinda riding up your chin, choking you, keeping you hot.”
• As was the case with 4 Nations, the Olympic tournament uses a 3-2-1 standings-point system that rewards the winning team for taking care of business in regulation time.
Commissioner Gary Bettman says the NHL hasn’t had much discussion about making the switch, and NHLPA chief Marty Walsh says the players haven’t approached him with the idea.
“We like what we have,” Bettman says. “And I think it’s a little unfair, for lack of a better word, to compare a two-week tournament to a 10-month season.
“We’re aware that there are alternatives, but not in search of a problem to fix.”
