The Canadians are off to a hot start in the World Juniors, with two wins in the first two days of the tournament in Vancouver. While Friday’s 3-2 win against Switzerland didn’t exactly compare to the 14-0 drubbing of Denmark in their opener, Team Canada appears to be holding steady as one of the tournament’s top contenders.
Does some small share of credit go to Connor McDavid? Team Canada defenceman Evan Bouchard revealed that the team received a call from McDavid, who won his own World Juniors championship with Canada in 2015, and that the Oilers captain had some advice to share on playing on home ice as well as handling the extra media attention.
“We got a call from McDavid to talk about his experience and stuff like that, so it was pretty cool to hear his side of things... [His advice was to] not really pay attention to all the media stuff that’s going on around you, especially [with the World Juniors] being in Canada. There’s going to be a lot of hype around all this stuff, so it’s really just coming together as a team, trusting each other and enjoying the whole moment.”
Bouchard, in fact, became teammates with McDavid after the Oilers drafted him with the tenth overall pick this year, and he has already played a few games alongside McDavid in the NHL. Although he’s been assigned to the OHL’s London Knights since, this surely isn’t the first time that the young Canadian has received some pointers from McDavid.
Along with McDavid, coach Tim Hunter says that fellow national team alumni Sidney Crosby and Manny Malhotra also spoke with this year’s team in advance of the tournament, describing the vast Team Canada alumni network as a powerful tool for the young guys coming through the system.
Everyone’s favourite World Juniors coach, the delightfully outspoken Christian Wohlwend of Switzerland, also paid some lip service to the depth of Canada’s talent, while describing how proud he was of his team to be able to compete with the Canadians.
