THE NEXT ONE
Connor McDavid grew up in Newmarket, Ontario, as a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. So you can imagine that, as a teenager, he would be psyched about going to the Air Canada Centre for a game between the Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers last November 1. He had a pretty good view of the action, too, given that he plays center for Edmonton. “I was so bad,” he says, stifling a giggle at the thought. “It might have been overexcitement. It was probably the worst game I’ve had this season.”
That night was an aberration: McDavid, who turned 20 in January, is lighting up the National Hockey League this season and fulfilling the promise he showed as a 15-year-old, when Hockey Canada granted him “exceptional status” so he could turn pro before he passed Algebra II. “I started to.
