𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Canada coach Jon Cooper said after his team’s first practice on Sunday night that one of the reasons why Tom Wilson was playing with Connor McDavid was because everyone needs a good F1, or lead forechecker, on a line.

“And that big boy there is one of the best I’ve seen,” Cooper said of Wilson.

On his first shift, McDavid might have been telling his coach he doesn’t need any help in that department, and at the same time signaled to his team that after a couple of days of soaking in the Olympic experience, things were now serious.

When Canada got the puck deep, McDavid was shot out of a cannon in pursuit, and poor Czech defenseman Lukas Sedlak never knew what hit him, absorbing a massive hit from No. 97 that left a hush over the hugely partisan Czech crowd. Later that shift, Sedlak was called for holding McDavid.

A pretty good start to McDavid’s Olympic career.

Later on, early in the second period, Wilson showed that F1 prowess when he leveled Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas with a crushing hit along the end boards on the forecheck.