The game of hockey arrived early this September, as the NHL brought back the exciting tournament ¨The World Cup of Hockey.” Hockey fans were treated to the talents displayed by the under 23 team which assembled to represent North America, a culmination of both Canada and United States’ finest young players. These high-potential competitors showcased their skills and hockey IQ in front of 19,000 plus fans. Featured in the squad were five first overall picks, including Ryan Nugent- Hopkins, Nathan MacKinnon Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid, and Auston Matthews. As a hockey fan myself,  it was very exciting to see the release of the North America team concept and the official roster announcement.

North America was the dark horse to win ¨The World of Hockey¨ tourney as they had an advantage in speed and overall skills. At first, people thought the combination of Canadian and American concepts would not work, considering they are rivals but have shown that they can put their differences aside in the games. Connor McDavid was named team captain which shows even though he is one of the youngest on the team, he can still lead a very young team of North America.

Unfortunately, this past Thursday, North America fell short, even though they won t two of their three games in the group stage. They suffered a heart breaking loss to Russia in their second game of the group stage, enough to knock them out of the tournament.

In spite of being knocked out North America showed that it can play with any team, especially a highly respected Sweden team, as they defeated the Swedes in overtime thanks to a “nifty” by Nathan MacKinnon goal. Although, North America was eliminated from the knockout round, they gave us three thrilling games in which they gave it their all. Team North America Defense man Morgan Rielly Reaction to game winning OT goal vs Team Sweden