‘I just want to win’: Connor McDavid eyes gold at first Olympics

Connor McDavid may not own a Stanley Cup ring — but he does have two hockey championships as a professional.

McDavid was part of the 2016 Canadian team that won gold at the world championship in Moscow. Nine years later, he donned the Maple Leaf crest again in victory at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

In both instances, McDavid scored the winning goal.

Now, ahead of his first Olympics, he’d like to experience that feeling of glory once again.

“If I can be real here for a second, I just want to win something again,” McDavid wrote in a Players’ Tribune article on Monday. “That’s what was so incredible about the 4 Nations last year.”

McDavid, 29, entered the NHL in 2015, one year after the last time the league’s players participated in the Olympics in Sochi. After the NHL, NHLPA and IIHF could not come to terms for 2018, the pandemic scuttled plans for NHLers to return to the Olympics in 2022.

The Edmonton Oilers captain would have been a lock for Team Canada in both instances.

Now, he’ll finally get his chance to shine on the Olympic stage in Milan.

“Representing Canada means everything to me. With not being able to play at the Olympics until this season, it’s been this part of me that’s been missing. Some of my favourite hockey memories ever are with a Canada jersey on. Or even just watching as a fan,” he wrote.

McDavid recalled sitting in the Canadian locker room awaiting overtime of the gold-medal game in the 4 Nations Face-Off against the U.S. last year.

“I remember looking around and there was Sid, Marchy, Doughty. And I really just remember how calm they were. They weren’t afraid of the moment. All these legends of the game, just in the zone, tying their laces, re-taping their sticks, locked in,” McDavid wrote.

“And I had this cool little moment, and I’m sure a lot of the younger guys in that room had the same feeling. Maybe it was the red Canada jerseys. But you just looked at those guys and remembered, “Man, I grew up a fan of you. I watched you on Saturday nights. This is such an honour.”

McDavid, of course, went on to score the OT winner for his first taste of victory in nine years.

He has led his Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup final in each of the past two seasons, only to come up short against the Florida Panthers both times.

“I don’t want to play golf. I don’t want to sit by the pool. I don’t want to be in the Bahamas. I don’t need a break, or a fresh start. I just want to be in Edmonton, playing hockey. I want to get back there again, whatever it takes. If that sounds like a robot, then I guess I’m a robot. But I see it differently. It doesn’t feel like work to me. It’s just the game that I love,” he wrote.

The men’s hockey competition in Milan runs from Feb. 11-22. Canada has not won the gold medal since Sochi 2014.