The joy and excitement of competing at the Olympics is intense for every athlete.

The Canadian Men’s hockey team had 20 Olympic rookies make their debut yesterday. Anyone not named Sidney Crosby or Drew Doughty laced up their skates for their first Olympic experience, and while Canada got a late first period goal from their youngest player, Macklin Celebrini, the were some jitters early on.

Connor McDavid delivered a massive hit on his opening shift. The hit was so big that Brad Marchand congratulated Tom Wilson for the hit, before Wilson told him it was actually McDavid. McDavid was a threat all night finishing with three assists, but the depth of the Canadians was the difference. Three of the four lines scored a goal, and so did MacKinnon’s line, but the goal was called back to a tripping penalty on Nick Suzuki. Head coach Jon Cooper tried to get all 13 of his forwards involved and the ice time reflected that.

Sam Bennett played 7:19 while the “fourth line” averaged just under 10 minutes. Thomas Harley was the only skater to log more than 20 minutes, and in a blowout game it is easier to spread out the minutes, but Connor McDavid still played more than any other forward. When we get later in the tournament and the games are close, I suspect McDavid and MacKinnon’s minutes will increase, but for now Cooper was able to get every involved and allow them to play through their excitement. I thought Canada started to take over the game in the second and third period after MacKinnon and his teammates calmed their nerves.

Switzerland also posted a shutout in their 4-0 victory over France. The Swiss were expected to control the game, which they did, and their NHL players overwhelmed France, which has only one current NHLer in Alexandre Texier. Switzerland won’t sit back and try to win a low scoring game. Captain Roman Josi mentioned before the tournament than in past years, they were more defensive minded, but he said this year’s team will attack more.

Kevin Fiala, Timo Meier, Nino Niederreiter and Nico Hischier are their best offensive stars, and while they can’t match the four-line scoring depth of the Canadians, I’d argue the Swiss have more offensive depth than Czechia, especially with Josi moving the puck from the backend.

Canada is still the favourite today, but the Swiss have won Silver at the last two World Championships and are not a team to be taken lightly. Canada won’t, because they got better as the game went on yesterday and this group, led by McDavid, MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby, look extremely focused. They want to win their pool and have the #1 seed, and because goal differential matters, I don’t expect them to let up if they get a lead today.

— Connor McDavid tied a Team Canada record (involving NHL players) with three assists in a game. He tied Patrick Marleau (2014 v. Austria), Sidney Crosby (2010 v. Germany) and Eric Staal (2010 v. Norway). The only NHLer with more was Latvian Sandis Ozolinsh in 2002 v. Slovakia.

— Macklin Celebrini, who scored 19:54 into his Olympic debut, became the first teenager with a game-winning goal in an Olympic tournament with NHL participation.

— Canada (with NHL players) has posted a shutout in their previous three games. Jordan Binnington blanked Czechia yesterday, while Carey Price blanked USA 1-0 in the semi-final and Sweden 3-0 in the Final at the 2014 Olympics. They’ve played 224:19 without giving up a goal. The last player to score was Latvian Lauris Darzins in the first period of their quarter-final game in 2014.

— Canada and Switzerland have met three times in the Olympics. Switzerland won 2-0 in 2006, Canada won 3-2 in a shootout in 2010 and Canada won 5-1 in 2018 (no NHL players). When NHL players are involved, the games have been close.

The 2010 shootout was memorable. Canada sent Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Ryan Getzlaf as their first three shooters and none scored. Marty Brodeur stopped all three Swiss shooters. They went to extra shooters and Crosby went first and was stopped and Brodeur stopped the Swiss shooter. Crosby was sent again, and he scored while Brodeur made the save. I remember being a bit surprised Mike Babcock sent Crosby a third time, but it worked. Jonas Hiller was unreal that games stopping 42 of 44 shots in the game and four of five shootout attempts.

In 2006, Martin Gerber made 49 saves to blank Canada 2-0. That was foreshadowing for what would be a disappointing tournament for Canada. They were blanked 2-0 by Finland in their next game, before beating Czechia 3-2, but then they lost 2-0 to Russia in the quarterfinals.

— Canada would benefit from an early goal against Akira Schmid (assumed starter) so he doesn’t get hot and “get in a zone.”

— It isn’t Canada related, but Josh Samanski skated alongside Leon Draisaitl in Germany’s opening game, and he played over 21 minutes in a game they won 3-1 over Denmark. The Oilers should be thrilled with him getting this experience and exposure to top players. If Samanski continues to play well, the Oilers could consider him an option to help them down the stretch. He looked solid in his five games with the Oilers, albeit in limited minutes, but this Olympic experience can only help his development. Draisaitl raved to me about how Samanski thinks the game, and Samanski could become an excellent free agent signing for Stan Bowman and his scouts.