At the Winter Olympic Games, the men’s Canadian hockey team has three generations of ace players.
You have 38-year-old Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who is the grizzled grandfather of the team. He has arguably the most famous goal in Olympic hockey history in 2010 against Team USA, and will go down as a top-five hockey player when his career is all said and done.
Then you have the prince who was promised, the current best hockey player in the world, with Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers. At 29, McDavid has done almost everything humanly possible on the ice except two things: win the Stanley Cup and win an Olympic gold medal.
Finally, there’s the kid. No one thought 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini was going to be on this team when the NHL season started. But the former No. 1 overall draft pick has lived up to the hype and more in his sophomore year with the San Jose Sharks, becoming an undeniable force for Team Canada as they left for Milan, Italy.
After their first game as a trio, the past, present, and future of Canadian hockey are firing on all cylinders, opening the campaign with a 5-0 victory over Czechia.
Crosby had two assists. McDavid had three. Celebrini scored the first goal of the tournament for Canada, with an assist from McDavid.
After the game, the Oilers captain and face of the NHL was asked to give his honest thoughts about the teenage phenom.
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“I can’t say enough good things about that kid,” McDavid said, talking up a future rival that will stand in front of him in his own quest to win a Stanley Cup.
But on Thursday, he only had a four-word verdict on Celebrini’s play.
“He’s so, so impressive,” McDavid admitted. At 19 years old, he’s a great, young player but not just because he’s so good with the puck but just all the little things he does. The hard work he puts into the game. He’s good along the wall, wins battles, plays just a hard game. An impressive kid.”
Team Canada plays their next game tomorrow against Switzerland.
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