By Frank Pingue
TORONTO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Canada's Connor McDavid has been giving ice hockey fans chills for years with his otherworldly talent and now the game's most dynamic player finally gets to showcase his skills on the global stage with fellow NHL stars at the Milano Cortina Olympic Games.
McDavid has said it would be a dream to represent Canada at an Olympics but the wait has been longer than expected as the National Hockey League did not send its players to the last two editions of the global
sporting showcase.
However, the time has finally come for the 28-year-old to let loose in a best-on-best tournament where he hopes to lead Canada to Olympic gold once again, after the country missed the podium at the 2022 Beijing Games.
McDavid, who is in the 11th season of a glittering NHL career spent entirely with the Edmonton Oilers, said he shared the excitement of his fellow Canadians ahead of the Games.
"It kind of seems to be on the back of everyone's mind," he told reporters ahead of a December NHL game in Toronto.
To the surprise of nobody, McDavid was one of six players named on the preliminary roster in June and confirmed in the wider squad in December.
Even those unfamiliar with the NHL will be hard-pressed not to notice McDavid when he takes the ice in Milan.
His extraordinary acceleration, electrifying speed, uncanny on-ice vision, goal-scoring ability and seemingly endless array of moves that have produced countless highlight-reel plays over the course of his career set him apart.
Often compared to fellow Canadian greats of the sport Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby, McDavid learned to skate at the age of three and began playing ice hockey at four, demonstrating an immediate affinity for the game.
At 15 he was granted "exceptional player" status by Hockey Canada to play in the Ontario Hockey League one year early and he quickly made his mark.
The Oilers selected McDavid, considered a "can't-miss" top prospect, with the first overall pick of the 2015 NHL Draft and he has been the face of the franchise ever since.
McDavid has five NHL scoring titles, three Most Valuable Player awards and one goal-scoring title in the regular season.
He led Edmonton to the Stanley Cup Final in each of the last two years, losing on both occasions. In 2024, he became just the sixth player to be named playoff MVP despite not winning the Stanley Cup.
Last February, it was McDavid who scored in overtime as Canada beat the U.S. in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off -- a four-team international tournament -- that was played against a backdrop of heightened political tensions between the countries.
McDavid has also suited up for Canada on five other occasions, including for gold medal-winning teams at the 2013 under-18 world championship, 2015 world junior championship and 2016 world championship.
He also played for Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey on a roster of up-and-coming stars.
However, he has never worn the Maple Leaf in a spotlight like the Olympics and the expectations on his shoulders are sky-high as he tries to help his country reclaim the gold medal won at the Sochi Games in 2014, the last time NHLers competed at an Olympics.
The men's ice hockey tournament runs from February 11-22.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
