Think Connor is on a mission?
I think he answered that pretty quickly, didn’t he?
Understand this. He’s not just a Hall of Famer. He’s one of the best players to ever lace up. But he hasn’t been able to play for a gold medal.
To do so is an amazing accomplishment. I know. I was fortunate to be part of Team Canada in 2002 in which we won the first Olympic gold medal for Canada in 50 years. It’s kind of a feather in your cap. And it’s especially so when you’re the kind of player like Connor. There should be a special room in the Hall of Fame for those kinds of players.
And he wants it. Bad. Canada went 3-0 in the preliminary round, including a 5-0 win against Czechia in the opener, and Connor had three points in each of those games. He’s leading the Olympics in points with nine (two goals, seven assists), is plus-seven, and is playing some of the best hockey I’ve ever seen him play entering Canada’s quarterfinal game against Czechia, a familiar foe, on Wednesday (10:40 a.m. ET; Peacock, USA, ICI Tele, CBC Gem, CBC, TSN).
He gets up for these special moments. You can’t be like that for 82 games a season but he knows this is crunch time.
I mean, when you’ve got all these expectations on you like he has, and he’s not disappointing, he’s actually exceeding them, well, it’s pretty spectacular.
Connor’s always been a serious kid. He was like that when I first met him. He played on the same York-Simcoe team, north of Toronto, as my son Tristan. Sam Bennett, who’s also on Team Canada, was on that team too. Like Connor, he was really serious too. When they stepped on the ice, even back then, there was no playing around. I guess you’re born with that element, which is great.
They still play that way.
You could always see in Connor’s eyes how determined he was.
Looking back, honestly, for me, growing up playing single-A hockey, I didn’t know what an NHL player looked like at 6,7, 8, 9. 10-years-old. So, seeing Connor at that age, I got a new scouting report on what kids look like at that age who are going to make the NHL, let alone be the best player in the world.
You know, now, in retrospect, I can look back and go, “Ya, he was the best player.” And he was so creative. He used the people around him. I mean, you see the kids that were talented but eventually that failed, they’d go through the whole team but they didn’t know how to use other players. And they didn’t have that awareness where Connor used other players. He could be on a breakaway, slow down, pass it to somebody who needed a goal, or go behind the net. And, like I said, he just was very creative.
I think Wayne Gretzky said at one time, the difference between “amazingly good” and “greatness” is creativity. And Connor had that in spades, along with speed, hands, feet, brain. So he had that element.
