Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is eager to finally become teammates with Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the first time when they link up at the Four Nations Face-Off next February.
He heard what you said, Connor. 🥹
He’s very excited to be your teammate with 🇨🇦 at 4 Nations. pic.twitter.com/kpbqCB3EVy
— Sports on Prime Canada (@SportsOnPrimeCA) October 25, 2024
When making a guest appearance on Amazon Prime’s Coast to Coast on Thursday, host Andi Petrillo asked Crosby about the upcoming tournament and the prospect of finally playing in international games for the first time since 2016. He couldn’t contain his enthusiasm for representing his country again, especially now that he will team up with McDavid.
“For him not being able to play for Canada for a long time and coming so close and it’s just not happening, I think he’s got to be really excited,” he said on how McDavid might be feeling about the tournament. “I’m really excited. Playing against him all these years, it’ll be much better playing with him. Just to see the best players in the world going head to head and being able to play with some of them, that’s what it’s all about. So, just really excited as players and I think for fans too for what they’re going to see.”
The feeling is mutual for McDavid who has yet to wear the Red and White since turning pro in 2015. He took it one step further when he was asked on Thursday who he feels should be the captain for Canada at the tournament.
“It should be Sid. It should be Sid, for sure. That’s not even a question,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to it. To play with Sid, to play with so many of the guys, Nate [MacKinnon], [Cale] Makar, the list goes on and on of great Canadian players. All four teams will be really good and it’ll be highly competitive.”
Before the Four Nations, the last time McDavid and Crosby competed in the same international hockey tournament was the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The former was not eligible to crack Canada’s roster at the time and instead, he suited up for Team North America, which was a collection of the best Canadian and American players 23 and under which included MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, and Jack Eichel among others.
Over eight years later, the opportunity for the two superstars to finally team up on the global stage for the first time ever and there is no doubt they will be able to create magic on the ice together akin to when Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux did the same back in the day. Although hockey fans would have loved for them to link up far sooner than when it actually transpired, at least it will actually come to fruition and not be a pipe dream.
