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.”