World juniors
Team Canada teammates already watch Oilers star’s every move
Oilers centre Ryan NugentHopkins picked as captain of Team Canada.
CALGARY – Ryan NugentHopkins is Captain Canada now, and he’ll be a quiet leader for the national junior team, which is his nature.
It’s his sublime talent that speaks volumes.
“Obviously, he’s an NHLcalibre player and he should be in the NHL right now,” said winger Ty Rattie, an Airdrie teenager who stars for the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks.
“Hockey Canada is lucky to have him and we’re lucky to have him. He’s shown all camp that he’s head and shoulders above everyone else.”
Hockey Canada had the 19-year-old Nugent-Hopkins last spring, when he followed up a splendid NHL rookie season by playing for Canada at the world championship in Finland. Now, the No. 1 pick overall at the 2011 draft is with the Canadian team that will go for gold at the world junior championship in Ufa, Russia, from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5.
This isn’t as out of sequence as it might seem.
The Edmonton Oilers’ No. 1 centre won’t be the first player to compete at the senior worlds before playing in the junior worlds, but only seven players have ever taken that route.
Patrice Bergeron, for example, won a gold medal at the 2004 men’s world championship and was part of the powerhouse Canadian team that won junior gold in 2005 at Grand Forks, N.D., also an NHL lockout year.
This Canadian junior team will benefit from yet another lockout, the biggest payoff being Nugent-Hopkins, who will centre the top line alongside returning players Jonathan Huberdeau and Mark Scheifele.
Huberdeau and returning defenceman Scott Harrington were named alternate captains by head coach Steve Spott.
Nugent-Hopkins, who recorded 52 points in 62 games for the Oilers last season, has an obvious portfolio with his junior teammates.
“Guys watch him,” Rattie said. “I’ve known him for a long time, we’ve been good friends for a long time, and I still just watch him. I’m still star-struck. I watch him tape his stick, I watch him tie his skates, just see what he does. That’s a leader. If guys want to watch him and soak it up, that’s fine. I’m sure he’s fine with it.”
Nugent-Hopkins seems totally in his element with the junior team, and with being named captain.
“I’m definitely excited,” he said. “It’s a huge honour for me. I know we’ve got 23 guys here who are all leaders. It’s awesome when you have a group of guys like that and I know we’re all excited to get (overseas).”
Nugent-Hopkins knows the team will have to bond quickly, a process already well underway since many of the players have been teammates on various Canadian international teams in the past.
It’s apparent Nugent-Hopkins burns to play at the world junior championship, long a hockey touchstone for elite players in our hockey-obsessed culture. The lockout has given him a second crack at it.
“Definitely, it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do,” said Nugent-Hopkins, who was cut from the 2010 Canadian team and played for the Oilers last season. “Any time you get to represent Canada, it’s a huge honour. I’m glad I got the opportunity. It’s a unique opportunity for me this year. I’m really excited about it.”
Nugent-Hopkins is too modest to say it, but you get the feeling he wants the chance to put his signature, his stamp on a Canadian holiday classic this year, just as Jonathan Toews, Sidney Crosby, John Tavares, Jordan Eberle and others have done in the past.
He already has done it at the under-18 team level. In 2010, Nugent-Hopkins’s first-shift goal was all Canada needed to beat the United States 1-0 in the gold-medal game at the Ivan Hlinka memorial tournament. He led all Canadian scorers with five goals and two assists in five games
Defenceman Dougie Hamilton, one of six returnees, played with Nugent-Hopkins on that U-18 team and is thrilled to be his teammate again.
“It’s really cool,” Hamilton said. “To see him go on and play in the NHL, to be able to watch him and learn from him. He’s been through a season already and he’s definitely a leader for us and, I think, all the players get to look up to him.”
Oilers head coach Ralph Krueger is thrilled his young star now has a growth opportunity, even though the NHL is in lockout until further notice.
“I definitely see a long-term value in what he’s doing,” said Krueger, who spent a couple of days observing at the selection camp. “Just seeing him deal with the media the first couple of days put a smile on your face. It was like he was growing up in front of our eyes.”
Krueger likes the swagger “in an honest way” he sees with Nugent-Hopkins as he settles into his leadership role.
“You can call it being comfortable in the uncomfortable,” Krueger said. ‘Leadership is uncomfortable because of the responsibilities that come with it. If there are conflicts, he’ll have to deal with it. There could be setbacks that have to be corrected. I think he’ll thrive on that challenge and enjoy it.”
Nugent-Hopkins is aware of some of Canada’s great leaders in the past.
“For sure, you got guys like (Wayne) Gretzky and (Mark) Messier, Mario Lemieux, there have been so many great leaders,” he said. “I mean, (Shawn) Horcoff in Edmonton was great for me last year. He really helped me make the transition (from junior). Even overseas (world championship), there was great leadership when I went, as well.”
Nugent-Hopkins doesn’t have the intimidating stare of a Messier or the charisma and presence of a Gretzky or a Lemieux. Not yet, anyway. But there is a calmness about him, a deep confidence, a sense he is comfortable in his own skin.
“He’s a confidence boost for the whole team,” said Hockey Canada head scout Kevin Prendergast. “He’s something that other nations don’t have.
“He knows what he can bring to the table, the coaches know what he can bring to the table. He wants this. This is important for him to win.”
It’s also important for Team Canada, which hasn’t won gold at the world juniors since 2009. Not that reclaiming the top of the podium is all on NugentHopkins. But he certainly seems comfortable with that uncomfortable mantle.