Who does not remember the famous dramatic victory of Team North America, a team made up of young North American players aged 23 and under, against Sweden in overtime at the World Cup of Hockey in 2016?
That overtime had kept fans on edge from start to finish, until a young Nathan MacKinnon succeed in outwitting the veteran Henrik Lundkvist on a breakaway to give victory to his team.
Six years later, what has this team become?
The roster resurfaced on social media this week, and it’s absolutely spooky!
If we look at the players of the time and what they have become today, this formation would simply be indestructible if it represented itself in such a tournament.
Here are the lines from back then, but with their NHL point totals from last season.
FORWARDERS
Austin Matthews (106) – Connor McDavid (123) – Mark Scheifele (70)
Johnny Gaudreau (115) – Jack Eichel (25)* – JT Miller (99)
Jonathan Drouin (20)* – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (50) – Nathan MacKinnon (88)
Vincent Trocheck (51) – Sean Couturier (17)* – Brandon Saad (49)
DEFENDERS
Morgan Rielly (68) – Colton Parayko (35)
Ryan Murray (4)* – Seth Jones (51)
Shayne Gostisbehere (51) – Jacob Oven (39)
KEEPERS
John Gibson
Connor Hellebuyck
* Player who missed more than half of the season
And what about the group behind the bench!
Head Coach: Todd McLellan.
Assistant coaches: Jon Cooper, Peter DeBoer, Dave Tippett et Jay Woodcroft.
Too bad the NHL has confirmed that this concept of Team North America will not be back at the next edition of the World Cup.
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