MONTREAL — Moments after scoring a goal that made him a national hero, Mitch Marner is stumped by a reporter’s question.
The first NHLer to ever freeze the clock at 6:06 in a 3-on-3 overtime had been asked to identify the second-biggest goal he had scored in his life.
“I don’t know,” Marner muttered, six times. He tried to think. “Dang…”
What is a runner-up to a dream come true?
And how much does the past really matter when the present is so delicious? When you rise to the occasion, drill a sliver of empty net on rush up-ice, and flip all those boos into delirious cheers?
“I mean, you tell eight- or 10-year-old Mitch that he’s scoring an overtime goal assisted by Sidney Crosby, a guy he looked up to since Day 1… it’s pretty crazy,” Marner says, following his exclamation point on a 4-3 opening-night victory for Team Canada over Team Sweden.
“Super cool. Tried to just really enjoy that moment after, to be honest. The building was rocking. It was nice to have them cheering for me instead of against me.”
Marner was, of course, referencing a Montreal throng that has long taunted the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ most polarizing playmaker. But he could just have easily been speaking generally about the feeling the masses may be against him.
It is a weight the 27-year-old has borne as the playoff losses have piled and the frustration both inside the player and surrounding his club team have swirled.
But Team Canada’s most criticized star (fairly or not) is wearing a different shade of Leaf this week, and it looks good on him.
“Those are the plays that he makes, right?” says teammate Mark Stone. “I think he gets a bit of a bad rap sometimes, right?”
Stone pauses before choosing his words carefully.
“How do I word this? I would take him on my team any day,” Stone continues.
“That’s a big-time goal. That’s a big-time play, just the way he could create space for himself and make that play. But the game’s hard. So, those kinds of moments can build your confidence.”
No one needs to remind Marner how hard the game is. One of his greatest defeats came, partly, in the same building — when the favoured Leafs blew their 3-1 series to Montreal in the 2021 playoffs.
A regular-season magician who can score 35 or assist on double that, a defensively committed puck hound who has been nominated for a Selke, Marner’s magic has dried in recent post-seasons.
A point-per-game-plus threat only managed three points in last spring’s seven-game defeat to the Boston Bruins. He, like his well-compensated Maple Leafs mates, has a growing reputation for wilting in spring.
Plenty of players came here looking for an Olympic audition. A few came for one last taste of best-on-best before they get too old to qualify as the best.
Some, like Marner, could use this tournament, this stage, as a springboard.
An image makeover.
Flourish here, and that momentum could bleed into the stretch run.
Marner has the coach in his corner.
Jon Cooper has been a Marner superfan since they shared silver at the 2017 World Championships.
Here, Cooper has plopped the right winger on his top line alongside Connor McDavid and Sam Reinhart. Marner is used on Canada’s power-play, penalty kill, and — obviously — with the game on the line in Period 4.
“When you’re that size, you have to have something. You have to be unique in something. You have to be better than everybody else at something,” Cooper explains. “And if you really watch that game, the plays he made in tight, the plays he made in traffic — and he’s not the fastest kid in the ice. Doesn’t have the hardest shot on the ice. Doesn’t do a whole bunch of things that a lot of guys out there on both teams do better than him.
“But then it’s really hard to sit here and say: ‘Was there a better player?’”
Cooper believes in Marner, as do his national teammates.
Keep playing like this, shining among a sea of stars? Well, maybe that belief will follow the kid home.
“Mitch can do it all,” Cooper says. “I’ve just watched this kid grow from when he was a young kid in pro hockey to what he is now, and just keeps getting better.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Shea Theodore suffered an upper-body injury on a second-period hit from Adrian Kempe that ended his tournament.
Canada can only add to its roster if they dip below 18 healthy bodies, but the country has made a request to the league to bring in a couple of recruits.
Fellow lefty Travis Sanheim should slide into the third pairing Saturday against the United States (8 p.m. ET on Sportsnet).
“It’s heartbreaking for the kid,” Cooper said of Theodore. “And he was the first one there at the door, hugging everybody when we came off. That’s a tough one to swallow because you just know how much it means.”
• A fan told American Charlie McAvoy, via social media, that the 4 Nations would be nothing more than a glorified all-star game.
“Really, I couldn’t believe it,” McAvoy said. “There’s not one person here at this event that wouldn’t do anything to win this tournament, and I think that’s shared amongst everybody.
“I don’t know. I’ve never been to an all-star game. You can have the all-star game. I’d rather play in this instead.”
• Team Sweden took over the Montreal Canadiens’ hallowed dressing room.
“It’s nice to have a good setup,” grinned Erik Karlsson, who waged two playoff series in this rink as an Ottawa Senator.
“Obviously a lot of history. I’ve been walking around and watching quite a few walls and players that’s been here.”
• The tournament that fueled a young Jon Cooper’s love for international hockey was the ’87 Canada Cup.
Cooper hangs out with Wayne Gretzky semi-regularly but had never met Mario Lemieux till tonight. After chatting with the humble icon about his own hockey heroes, the coach asked if he would surprise the players by reading out the starting lineup.
The jolt of Lemieux’s blessing, Cooper believes, played “a big part” in how Canada came out like a house on fire, scoring in the first minute and again before Sweden could register its first shot on net.
“I kind of remember some roars in my life — and, actually, a couple of them have been in this building — but I don’t know if I’ve heard anything like I heard when he was marched out at centre ice,” Cooper said.
“And in total Mario style, he was kinda trying to wave Sid over like, ‘I’m getting embarrassed here.’ But that thing would have gone on forever.”
• A theory: Cooper scratched Sam Bennett for tonight’s light-hitting Sweden affair but will give him the tap for Saturday’s grudge match versus Team USA.
Double Tkachuks? That one could get nasty.
