SIMMONS SAYS: McDavid finally gets one game for shot at gold

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Connor McDavid’s remarkable hockey life has been too much about being close.

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He has come close to winning the Stanley Cup twice in the past two years with the Edmonton Oilers. He came close to winning the Ontario Hockey League championship in his junior years.

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He has won awards and trophies, all kinds of them, that will be lovely to look at when his career is over, but a gold medal, for your country, for yourself, for your family, in the game you love and dominate, that lives forever.

And now the dream game on Sunday afternoon in Italy for everything.

I’ve asked this question to players after their careers were over: What meant more to you? Your gold medal or your Stanley Cup ring?

After a pause, a sigh and some thought, the answer is almost always the gold-medal game. Because it’s one game for everything. Because it’s your country and your place.

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This, on Sunday, is the Game 7 of all Game 7s.

McDavid has been talking about the Olympics since I first met him 14 years ago. He was in his second year of junior hockey the previous time NHL players took part in the Olympic Games in a best-on-best format.

He would have been part of Team Canada at the Games in 2018 and 2022 had NHL players been allowed to go. And someone who is rarely outspoken on any subject, McDavid became outspoken when it came to NHL players’ involvement in the Winter Games.

He has talked about the Olympics and the missed opportunities for years. And now, one game for everything. The game everyone in North American hockey has talked about seemingly forever.

Team Canada versus Team USA.

Canada has McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, the kid Macklin Celebrini and the best defenceman in the world, Cale Makar. And if he is healthy enough to play, they have captain Sidney Crosby, the greatest winner in hockey history.

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Team USA has a fabulous puck-moving defence, elite players such as Quinn Hughes and Zach Werenski, and Connor Hellebuyck, the only goaltender in hockey to win the Hart Trophy since Carey Price played in Montreal.

McDavid has been the show since this tournament began. He has more points than any player has ever scored in the six times there has been NHL involvement in the Olympics. When he plays, the ice is actually tilted. This is the best defence he has played against, maybe ever.

This is about country and sport, rivalry and pride — and for McDavid, it’s about almost everything he’s ever wanted in his career. Anyone who has watched this tournament knows without question now who the best player in the world is.

And now it’s one game for everything. It’s Connor McDavid time.

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THIS AND THAT

Don’t know if this means anything heading into the gold-medal game but a number to consider: 13 members of Team Canada have won the Stanley Cup. Only three members of Team USA can say the same … The great David Pastrnak called this version of Team Canada the “best team ever.“ Nice of him to say that but we are relinquishing Pastrnak’s history degree for that. Team Canada 1976 had defencemen Bobby Orr, Denis Potvin, Larry Robinson and Serge Savard among their 18 Hall of Fame players on their roster. Team Canada 1987 had Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Grant Fuhr among 12 Hall of Fame players and 12 Stanley Cup champs on that Canada Cup-winning team … By my calculation, this version of Team Canada should have about eight Hall of Fame inductions in their future: Crosby, McDavid, MacKinnon, Celebrini, Makar, Drew Doughty, Mitch Marner and Mark Stone. Nine if Brad Marchand ever gets the call … The previous time there was an early-morning gold-medal game on TV in North America, nobody seemed to care. Sweden played Finland in 2006. Hardly anyone woke up for that one … The gold-medal hockey game is always on Sunday afternoon, prior to the closing ceremony of the Games. It is scheduled so that anyone involved in the event live can still make it to the ceremony. Had Slovakia played Finland in the gold-medal match, no one in North America would have said a word about it … Celebrini and McDavid assisted on MacKinnon’s winning goal in the final minute against Finland on Friday. Not getting an assist on the play, Sam Reinhart. He won a puck battle, pushing it to Celebrini. If he doesn’t win that battle, there is no last-minute goal. It was the first big play Reinhart has made in these Games.

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HEAR AND THERE

Marner has played three overtime games for Team Canada and scored the winning goal in two of them, and set up the winning goal in the other. That’s 3-on-3 overtime hockey at the Games. In 21 Stanley Cup overtime appearances for the Maple Leafs, Toronto had an 8-13 record and Marner had zero goals and zero assists in those 21 games. That’s 5-on-5 overtime. Big boy hockey. Gold-medal games, or playoff games of any kind — men’s, women’s, whoever — should never ever be played 3-on-3. It’s too gimmicky for an event of this significance … That’s as bad as ending a World Cup soccer match with penalty kicks … Auston Matthews wears the Team USA captain’s ‘C’ but their best player at the Olympics has been Hughes, who wasn’t able to play in last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off. Team USA has Hughes now on its blue line. Canada has added Celebrini and Tom Wilson, of note from last year … The three best players at the Olympics heading to the gold-medal game: 1. McDavid; 2. Quinn Hughes; 3. Celebrini … Canada vs. USA for the next 10 years: Hughes vs. Makar. The two best defencemen in the world going head-to-head … The one part of Team Canada’s roster construction I didn’t like was their eight-man defence. Yes, they have Makar and partner Devon Toews. And they have Thomas Harley from Dallas. But after that, there’s too much hold-your-breath on defence and little offence from the back end. Combined, Colton Parayko, Doughty, Travis Sanheim and Toews have scored 11 goals this season. Jakob Chychrun, who should have been on Team Canada, has 21 goals for the Washington Capitals … Hellebuyck has won more NHL trophies than the rest of the Team USA roster combined: What he doesn’t have is a signature win in goal. This is his time to be special — or not.

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SCENE AND HEARD

Congratulations to Don Cherry on being named to the Order of Ontario, which is deserving by the definition of the honour. But as I perused the list of those included: I didn’t see Russ Jackson’s name, or the names of Ferguson Jenkins, the late Dave Branch, Brian Kilrea and Dale or Mark Hunter. And I wondered: Who has contributed more to Ontario sport than they did? … The past few years, I wrote letters of support for Mark Kirton’s candidacy for Order of Ontario. I never met a man as brave as the late Kirton, the former NHL player, who was still alive, battling ALS and fighting to raise funds for the dreadful disease until he took his last breath. In the letter, I urged the selectors to act quickly, knowing we were running out of time. They went elsewhere with their vote and I can’t imagine why. They don’t honour posthumously. They missed a great Canadian on this one … Still missing from Cherry’s resume: The Hockey Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada … What do you do in hockey when the other team has more talent? Lots more talent? You shrink the rink. You stack the middle of the ice and keep opponents to the outside. You check like hell and hope it all works out for you. The Team Canada women did that for 58 minutes against Team USA. The much-criticized coach, Troy Ryan, should be congratulated for his gold-medal game strategy and the players for their execution of it. It almost beat one of the great women’s hockey teams in history. The overtime loss to the Americans stings, but what was most impressive for Canada is how a team with far less talent than the U.S. almost won gold … I love watching Canada play the U.S. in women’s hockey, but I still hate the fact I know that they’ll be playing for gold before the tournament begins. The better the PWHL gets, the better Canadian and American women will play. Which pretty much damages the rest of the sport assuming there is a rest of the sport … Wednesday may have been the greatest day in Olympic hockey history. Four men’s elimination games, three going to overtime. The depth on the men’s side is growing exponentially. It makes the tournament that much better … When Team USA won its ‘Miracle On Ice’ gold medal in 1980, there was no such thing as a gold-medal game in the hockey tournament. You won with the most points in the playoff round standings. After the famed win over the Soviets, Team USA still had to beat Finland to get its gold.

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AND ANOTHER THING

In covering 10 Winter Olympic Games, I barely saw any curling. I think I’ve watched more curling on television in the past two weeks than I’ve watched in my life. It’s still 12 years since Jennifer Jones won gold in Sochi, but nice to see Rachel Homan and crew come back and win a bronze in Milan … The Peacock app in the United States has been fabulous for Olympic coverage. You get every event and you choose what you want to watch when you want to watch it. The only problem: Occasionally, you get a house announcer doing a game. I got a Team Canada hockey game with a British play-by-play call and no colour man. It sounded weird. He was doing all right calling the game until he didn’t know what the call was when Celebrini was awarded a penalty shot … Finnish coach Antti Pennanen complained about the officiating after losing to Team Canada on Friday. If I were a Finnish fan, I’d be complaining about the coach allowing his team to sit back with a 2-0 lead and the ice tilting towards Canada … The best time to trade Jordan Binnington is right after the Olympics. The St. Louis Blues are going nowhere. A lot of teams need goaltenders. I say this before knowing what happens Sunday — but he has had two sensational tournaments for Canada in goal. A playoff team should note that … The NHL surprise during the Olympics: Not a lot of trade talk going on. Some GMs thought that with the standings so tight in the East, trade talk would be ripe during the Olympic break. It’s still 12 days to the NHL trade deadline and expect the Maple Leafs to be sellers rather than buyers … If Pittsburgh makes the playoffs and Crosby is able to play down the stretch, that may push him as a Hart Trophy candidate. Same with Celebrini and San Jose. But right now, the Hart should be a race between Nikita Kucherov, McDavid and MacKinnon. But if the rather stunning Penguins make it, how do you not vote for Crosby? … Across the board, Canada has the fewest medals it has won at a Winter Olympics since the 17 medals at Salt Lake. But they did have seven gold medals in 2002. They won’t have that in Milan … Canada won 14 gold medals in Vancouver 2010, and followed that up with 10 and 11 golds in the next two Games. The most golds they can win at these Games is six … Major League Baseball executives were polled about a number of things, including the worst free agent signing of the off-season. The winner was surprisingly Dylan Cease by the Blue Jays. Must be jealousy or something … It’s going to take 94 or 95 points to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference of the NHL. The Leafs would need to win 16 of their final 25 games to get close. Two-time defending champion, Florida Panthers, would have to go 17-8 in their final 25 games to have any chance of a playoff spot … The playoff races may be great, but it might be hard to watch Dakota Joshua and Calle Jarnkrok play after watching two weeks of Olympic hockey. And still, this might be the most fascinating end to an NHL season in years … Happy birthday to Chris Bassitt (37), Julius Erving (76), Charles Barkley (63), Alan Trammell (58), Pat LaFontaine (61), Bo Naylor (28), Devon Travis (35), Ryan Smyth (50), Jake Muzzin (37), Vijay Singh (63) and Kia Nurse (30) … And hey, whatever became of Dave King?

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