Sam Bennett has known Connor McDavid since they were little kids, playing minor hockey as linemates before the age of 10. He was on the other side of McDavid in last year’s Stanley Cup Final, as the Oilers stormed back from a 3-0 deficit to force a Game 7,

Connor McDavid played in the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, but it was with the 23-and-under Team North America, not Canada.

For the first time since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, Connor McDavid is playing in a true best-on-best international tournament. He’s waited nearly a decade for this moment.