They are the future of the game – and that’s awesome. Freeze him in that moment, and he is hockey and youth and everything they might become: already in full stride, head up, brimming with possibility. You know the rest of this metaphor by now. It’s the future of our sport.
Advertisement
Sweden rallied from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to force overtime, securing the one point to win the group. “There’s way more heat on you when you represent your country. You’re going to have to check and find ways to win”.
Coming into the tournament the hockey world was undecided on whether or not it was a good idea to have the under-24 North American group as part of an worldwide competition. “I like watching that team because there’s tons of skill”, Babcock said of the 23-and-under North American gang.
North America is one big slap in the face to unsuspecting opponents, who know how fast the mix of USA and Canadian players is but can’t possibly adjust to it before seeing it. Gaudreau later scored for North America, but Sweden got goals from Filip Forsberg, Nicklas Backstrom and Patrik Berglund to get to overtime. “I didn’t know. I thought we were in if we won”, said Gaudreau. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
Watching former No. 1 overall draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers, McDavid, embracing fellow No. 1 overall draft pick Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs after assisting on Matthews goal against Russian Federation was a refreshing site for hockey and a great showcase of things to come for the NHL.
Fifty-six seconds into the game: penalty shot.
You have to see this. Like that, only with pucks. Jacob Trouba (Michigan) played 15:30 and had a plus-1 rating.
“No”, said Sedin. “First one”. What looks like the least conservative collection of great talent we’ve seen in generations might have been undone by a little too much conservatism. “It was so fast … it’s the weirdest game I’ve been in”. “They’ve watched some really good hockey in September and that doesn’t happen very often”. “It’s a lot of fun to play those games”.
McDavid had another great scoring chance with less than two minutes to play in the first but was stopped on a breakaway by Lundqvist, who was left to fend for himself often in the opening 20 minutes.
Media reports said that Ekblad was concussed, but Chiarelli and North America head coach Todd McLellan both insist that’s not the case. And when you have a guy like Connor McDavid, you let him do what he does.
“It was awesome”, he said of the serenade afterward.
Team North America and Team Sweden played probably the most exciting 45 seconds of hockey we’ve seen during the World Cup on Wednesday afternoon, trading back-to-back chances in a thrilling 4-3 North America win.
With Trocheck’s tally, the North Americans had scored more goals against Sweden in 95 seconds than Team Russia and Team Finland had managed to score against the Swedes in 120 combined minutes.
Except Sportsnet’s Scott Oake told MacKinnon that North America now needed winless Finland to beat Russia Thursday to advance. Shots were 37-27 North America.
Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin was a healthy scratch for North America.
Advertisement
There is no current coach in the National Hockey League bold enough to try what McLellan is now doing and not just because there is no coach in the National Hockey League with the kind of young talent McLellan has.
