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EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid took some of his Team Canada equipment for a spin at practice last week in anticipation of the 4 Nations Face-Off.

The Edmonton Oilers center wore the pants and gloves he will be using to represent Canada in the best-on-best tournament, which will take place Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston.

And he’s looking forward to suiting up for the real thing in a little more than a week.

“Of course, it’s going to be exciting,” McDavid said Friday. “I think everybody that’s there is proud to represent their country. They picked a team where everybody was available, and this is the roster they went with. There’s meaning in that.

“I think about playing in Montreal, playing Sweden, playing the Americans there on a Saturday night, Finland in Boston and hopefully, the opportunity to win it all a couple of days later. It’s going to be a great tournament. It’s going to be short, which should make for some really intense games.”

Canada opens the tournament against Sweden at Bell Centre in Montreal on Feb. 12, faces the United States there on Feb. 15 and concludes the round-robin against Finland at TD Garden in Boston on Feb. 17. The top two teams meet in the championship game on Feb. 20, also at TD Garden.

“Yes, it’s not the Olympics. I understand that,” McDavid said. “It’s not a World Cup of Hockey, but there is still something on the line and we want to represent our country well.”

McDavid and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar were named Team Canada alternate captains on Thursday. Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby is the captain.

McDavid has represented Canada at the 2013 Under-18 World Championship, winning a gold medal; the World Junior Championship in 2014 and 2015, winning gold in the second; and the World Hockey Championship in 2016 and 2018, taking home gold again in 2016. He also played for the 23-and-under Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey 2016.

Along with Crosby, McDavid and Makar, Canada’s roster features forwards Nathan MacKinnon of the Avalanche, Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins, Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, among others.

“Mitch is a guy I’ve never played with before at any level, so I’m excited about that,” McDavid said. “He’s such a smart player. He’s having a terrific year. He’s such a great playmaker. He reminds me a little bit of (Oilers forward) Leon [Draisaitl], who can slow the game down when he has to. Obviously, I like playing with guys like that. I’m excited about that.”

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McDavid has been captain of the Oilers since the 2016-17 season but is happy being an alternate to Crosby with Team Canada. McDavid said in October it was a “no-brainer” that Crosby should be captain.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be there to support Sid, as he’s the captain, and Cale, but truthfully anyone can wear it (the ‘C’) on that team,” McDavid said. “It’s a room full of leaders, full of great players. I’m tremendously honored to represent my country and to have that role. I’m very excited about it.”

McDavid and Crosby will be teammates for the first time at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Crosby won gold with Canada at both the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, when he scored the game-winning “Golden Goal” in overtime against the United States in the final, and the 2014 Sochi Olympics. He also represented his country at the World Championship in 2006 and 2015, winning a gold medal in the latter tournament; the World Junior Championship in 2005 and again in 2006, when he won gold; and the World Cup in 2016, when he helped Canada win the title as captain.

“I’m excited about playing with Sid,” McDavid said. “I’m going to say that a lot over the next couple of weeks. I’ve said it a lot over the last couple of months, so you guys (the media) can just assume that from now on.”

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Crosby is in his 20th NHL season and has won the Stanley Cup three times with the Penguins (2009, 2016, 2017). The Pittsburgh captain said he is looking forward to playing with McDavid for the first time and appreciates the way his Edmonton counterpart has evolved his game in his first 10 NHL seasons.

McDavid has 1,049 points (356 goals, 693 assists) in 691 NHL games, including 67 points (21 goals, 46 points) in 46 games this season.

“I think naturally he’s probably more of a playmaker,” Crosby said Friday. “Obviously he’s scored a ton throughout his career, but I think that’s something you can tell there was a point and time where I felt he decided he wanted to score a little bit more and he was able to do that.

“I think with every year that goes by you have to constantly evolve and adapt, especially a player like him that gets so much attention, teams are trying to stop every night. That’s progression that I think is important if you want to continue to have success, and he’s been able to do that at an incredibly high level.”

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McDavid said Team Canada players have been reaching out to each other since the full rosters were announced Dec. 4. NHL players will also participate in the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics next season.

“The goal is so that guys are a little bit familiar with each other,” McDavid said. “It’s two or three days together before you play. You want to have some familiarity. Thankfully, a lot of guys in that room are pretty familiar with each other. We’ve played against each other for a long time or played with each other either [in] junior events or World Championships or whatever.

“I feel like we should be pretty comfortable with each other, but building that team rapport always takes time. But we don’t have that time, so we’re trying to get ahead of it a little bit.”

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