TORONTO — Jimmy Devellano, that staple of Detroit’s front office who has seen more hockey in his 73 years than any 10 Canadian men combined, sat back on a press box couch and dreamed a hockey man’s dream.
“Give me that team for the next two years, and I’ll win a Stanley Cup with it,” promised the Detroit Red Wings Sr. V.P. “They would beat 20 NHL teams right now.”
That team is Team North America, and that conversation came as the 2016 World Cup of Hockey was feeling a collective tremor. The day after one of its gimmick teams had beaten Team USA 3-0, the other one was beating Team Finland for fun Sunday night at the Air Canada Centre.
The score was 4-1. It was not indicative of the play.
“They got better, they won every battle, they skate hard, they are so aggressive. Such a great team,” said Finnish head coach Lauri Marjamaki.
“The second period was a cold shower for us.”
It was 1-0 after 20 minutes, 4-0 after 40. But it could have been much, much worse.
North America was denied a goal on a video review (goalie interference), had another puck sit 9/10ths of its way over the goal line but not quite in, and had hit a post. The kids rifled 25 shots at a beleaguered Pekka Rinne before the game was half over — 43 in total — and by the end of the night, all 18 skaters had at least one shot on goal, the sign of an honest, well-rounded rout.
We wondered if this was possible, then lo and behold, it happened: In their first real outing against a full fledged, legitimate senior men’s national team — complete with systems, chemistry, and experience together — these kids didn’t just beat Finland.
They left them face down in the sauna.
“Oh, it was a blast,” said Buffalo’s Jack Eichel. “For all of us who have been looking forward to playing in this tournament for a while, just to be able to get here and finally play… We were all so pumped up for it before the game. To get that first win, it builds our confidence. We just have to keep going.”
Next up: Monday against Russia, a desperate team that can likely pack its bags for home if it loses for the second straight day. North America, meanwhile, could pretty much secure a semi-final spot with a win, with only Sweden left on its schedule on Wednesday night.
“We had our best game of the tournament so far,” said Nathan MacKinnon who, like his teammates, spent the rest of the interview trying not to belie even a hint of surprise at how easily they dispatched the Finns — the second most decorated team in the NHL era of Olympic hockey behind Canada.
The theme now becomes straight-faced. No awe at a possible meeting with Team Canada, talk of “playing with house money,” or “we’ve got nothing to lose.”
Pretend they expected this.
“They’re the youngest players in the tournament, but they’ve been in the limelight. They’ve been in the spotlight their whole careers,” said their coach Todd McLellan. “They’re very high draft picks. The media has been around them a lot. They understand the whole presentation of the game itself and how to behave, and when you mix their skill level in and their ability to come together as a group, we now have a team.”
And what a team it is.
From Auston Matthews bulling to the net with Connor McDavid and Eichel in his wake, battling to pot the rebound, to Johnny Gaudreau — who turned Rinne’s crease into a skateboard park with a leaping, twisting deflection past Rinne in the second period.
Gaudreau is killing it here, and the increasing validity of his contract demands have to be killing Flames GM Brad Treliving, who might as well just back up the Brinks truck now and be done with it.
Big, fluid defenceman Colton Parayko, a name unknown to many, was the team’s only multi-point player with two assists. His only career national team performance came in Junior ‘A’ when he played for Canada West as a Fort McMurray Oil Baron. Four years from now, he may be a Team Canada defenceman.
MacKinnon is a true leader here. Matthews more than belongs. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Brandon Saad and Sean Couturier have embraced their roles as defensive leaders, and goalie Matt Murray has been the best goalie in the rink in every game he’s played so far.
This is a team now, be darned sure of that.
A team that could very well be still playing on the weekend, when some traditional hockey powers have packed their bags, headed for home.
