Mitch Marner obtains his star turn in 4 nations, ‘oozuma trust’ for the Canada team

Montreal-after exchange an Arce sheet for another and sharing a dressing room with his childhood hero, Mitch Marner thought he had packed more than enough Pellizco moments in these first days with the Canada team.

Then, Sidney Crosby found him in an extra time and put the album on his stick while gathering the speed through the neutral zone, and that prepared the stage for a moment that was literally years in process for the end of 27 years .

Marner assured a massive victory of the 4 nations that Opening for Canada on Wednesday when he looked at Erik Karlsson and put a shot on the Filip Gustavsson blocker. That froze the clock at 6:06 and sent the Bell Center to a frenzy. But he also brought a level of emotion rarely seen from a player around the world who has supported the worst of the repeated defeats of the Toronto Maple Leafs playoffs over the years.

“I mean, you tell Mitch of 8 or 10 years that he is scoring an extra time of time assisted by Sidney Crosby, a guy who admired since day 1, yes, he is quite crazy,” Marner said, his voice growing hoarse After the 4-3 victory. “And I am sure that my family will be very excited about that, and it will be something really great to have now.”

Let this serve as an exhibition to why players throughout the league fought so hard for the return of first -level international competition: it is about these unforgettable moments. It is about trying himself against the best of the best. It’s about leaving everything else aside and playing for something much bigger than a payment check.

While this may seem a forced attempt to achieve the Maple Leafs, consider everything Marner has passed professionally before obtaining his star turn after a fantastic opener of 4 nations clashes.

He arrived here as the fourth scorer of the NHL, tied with Canadian teammate Connor McDavid with 71 points. But he also came here as the guy with six playoffs goals to show for his last 37 Stanley Cup playoff games, which has fair or not created a narrative about his ability to navigate the great moments.

Well, they do not become much larger than the author after seeing twice that his team will waste two goals with the behaviors to Sweden.

“I think you can obviously increase your trust,” said his teammate Mark Stone. “I think it sometimes has a bit of a bad reputation. How do I tell you this? I would take it to my team any day. The way he plays, incredible teammate of what I have experienced. “

That is the other thing about Marner: absolutely everyone who shares a dressing room with the boy’s worshipers. Both in Toronto with the Maple Leafs and here with Team Canada.

Jon Cooper, the Canadian coach, has been excited about him since a few weeks went together in the 2017 World Hockey World Championship, an event in which Marner was among the Canadian players who lost an attempt to shoot in a heartbreaking defeat of the gold medal for Sweden.

“That child oozes trust,” said Cooper. “I thought he was a great player who made a great play in a great moment. That is why guys like him are in this team. It was fabulous. “

A game like this reinforces Marner’s position in the biggest hockey universe. Add a little more context. He said the rhythm was so fast during the first period that he had trouble recovering his breath between the shifts in the bank.

But when everything was at stake and Sweden had hit twice at the beginning of the third period to tie the score 3-3, he found among the selected players that Cooper supported hard while significantly shortening his bank.

Marner saw five shifts in the second half of the third period alone, including the aid to Canada to deliver a key penalty, and then obtained three more extra shifts before finally sealing the agreement.

He was harassed by teammates after the album entered and cheered in a building where Arce leaves are accustomed to being booed.

“That is a great goal, it’s a great play,” Stone said. “Just the way you can create space for yourself and then make that play. The game is difficult. That type of moments can develop your trust. “

And, to Marner, he took him back where everything began.

He always wore the number 87 when he was a child playing in the Toronto area because he was a Crosby fan. He was not yet a teenager when Crosby scored the gold goal.

When the album entered Wednesday, he thought of his parents, Paul and Bonnie, encouraging him among the more than 21,000 in the stands. When asked what his father’s reaction would be at that time, he replied: “Yes, it will be pumped as S … will surely go crazy.”

Before leaving the Bell Center at some point after midnight on Wednesday, there was only one goal left: track the album he scored as a souvenir to take home.

(Photo: Andre Ringuette / 4NFO / Hockey World Cup through Getty Images)