Canada off to hot start in round-robin play

MILAN — Just imagine being Macklin Celebrini right now.

You’re 19 years old, as wide-eyed and fresh-faced as they come, suddenly rubbing shoulders with the very elite of the hockey world. And while wearing the Maple Leaf on your chest at the Winter Olympics for the very first time, you’re dropped onto a top line that reads like fantasy.

Connor McDavid, the best player on the planet. Nathan MacKinnon, who may well be the second-best skater alive. And you.

Instead of looking like a deer in the headlights under the weight of that assignment, Celebrini makes it look effortless — calmly scoring another goal, his second in as many games, while adding an assist for good measure.

“He’s a dog on a bone, that kid,” McDavid said Friday night after Canada downed Switzerland to improve to 2-0 in group play and clinch top spot in Group A.

All three players are natural centres, and they began the tournament on Thursday against Czechia playing on different lines. But head coach Jon Cooper couldn’t resist a little experimentation one night later, and he may have just created a monster.

“Here’s the thing, they’re three phenomenal players — generational, these kids. But in saying that, you don’t know how that chemistry is going to go all the time,” said Cooper.

“Three centres, now some guys have to play a little bit out of position. And, ultimately, they’re three guys that want the puck, need the puck, and there’s only one puck. So now sacrifices have to be made, but ultimately they did it.”

Celebrini is something else, the first-overall pick from 2024 now in his second year with the San Jose Sharks making it look all too simple.

This game wasn’t as easy as the final score might suggest. Goaltender Logan Thompson was terrific, stopping 24 of 25 shots, as a stubborn Swiss squad pushed hard.

McDavid, who had three assists in Thursday’s 5-0 win over Czechia, had another three-point outing. He opened the scoring, then chipped in with helpers on goals by defenceman Thomas Harley and his new linemate, MacKinnon. Sidney Crosby had Canada’s other goal.

For the second straight night, an injury to an NHL star became a big storyline.

Winnipeg Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey left Thursday’s game with an apparent lower-body injury and did not dress against Switzerland.

“You will not see him next game (on Sunday against France), but by no means is he out for the tournament,” Cooper said.

That’s a relief, as the issue is believed to be more day-to-day rather than long term.

However, Swiss forward Kevin Fiala — who plays for the Los Angeles Kings — likely didn’t dodge disaster. He had to be stretchered off the ice late in the third period on Friday after attempting a reverse hit on Canadian forward Tom Wilson.

“It’s a nothing play. It happens a lot every night… just unlucky,” said Wilson.

“At this point, it’s the Olympic Games, and I feel terrible that he may not be able to keep playing and just sending his family and him my best. You never want to see a guy go down in a tournament like this, especially. It sucks for the country, for their team, and just wishing him a quick recovery.”

Wilson didn’t initially realize how serious it was.

“He’s a tough kid. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t scream, he didn’t really show any emotion at all,” he said. “I didn’t know how serious it was. And then when we watched the replay, you could see his foot kind of got caught in the ice.”

Canadian defenceman Drew Doughty, who plays with Fiala in Los Angeles, was clearly shaken up after the game.

“It was tough to see. I wish Kevin the best. We need that guy on my team back home,” said Doughty, who was planning to leave the mixed zone to go try and find Fiala for an update.

Canada made three changes to its lineup for their second game. Thompson replaced Jordan Binnington in net, Elkorn’s Travis Sanheim started in place of Morrissey and Winnipegger Seth Jarvis drew in for Brad Marchand up front.

Sanheim had a solid night, going plus-two while logging 10:17 of ice time. Jarvis was also effective, bringing plenty of energy and registering two shots in 9:19 of action.

Jets forward Nino Niederreiter, who was the Swiss flag bearer at the opening ceremonies, had told the Free Press earlier this week his team wanted to “poke the bear” that is Canada. They gave it their best shot — at times, literally as even Niederreiter was penalized for elbowing Sanheim at one point. The veteran forward was minus-two with one shot over 18:03.

Switzerland now falls to 1-1 and will finish group play on Sunday in a big game against Czechia, who are also 1-1 after beating France (0-2) by a 6-3 score.

Canada is now guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals which begin Feb. 18, but there is still the matter of overall seeding as the top three pool winners are ranked in order of record and then goal differential. So, Canada may want to try and pour it on against France.

“The job is to keep getting better. To come in here and play the back to back, we passed that test,” Cooper said of beating two solid teams by a combined score of 10-1.

“We got to pass one more. And then we get a little bit of a break. And you think about the travel, the practices, the games, it adds up. It’s tiring, not only on the body, but on the mind.”

In other tournament action on Friday, Finland downed Sweden 4-1 in a testy match that leaves them with identical records of 1-1 in Group B. Slovakia is on top of that group with a 2-0 record after squeezing by host Italy (0-2) by a score of 3-2.

Looking at Saturday, Sweden and Slovakia face off against each other, while Finland battles Italy. There are all sorts of tantalizing tiebreaker scenarios in that pool depending on the results.

And over in Group C, Connor Hellebuyck and Kyle Connor will be back in action as the United States (1-0) takes on old friend Nikolaj Ehlers and Denmark (0-1). Germany (1-0) plays Latvia in the other game.

Puck drops on Canada’s final round-robin game Sunday at 9:40 a.m. CT.

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