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In the dominant narrative at this year’s World Junior, Jack vs. Mac, round one has to be scored in the American’s favourMinas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

Hype-making has its limits, sometimes a guy just needs to take a snooze.

So when Team U.S.A. played its World Junior tournament opener Friday afternoon, 17-year-old Team Canada phenom Connor McDavid wasn't planning on sizing up the competition and fellow budding superstar Jack Eichel.

"I like to nap," McDavid said earlier in the day when asked whether he'd be watching the U.S. take on defending-champion Finland.

In the event, McDavid missed a scintillating effort from Eichel, although Team Canada's opening victory over Slovakia – an 8-0 mauling where the team in home red built a 3-0 lead before the first period was 10 minutes old – was more emphatic than the U.S.'s 2-1 shootout win.

It may irk both players that the dominant narrative at this year's World Junior is Jack vs. Mac, that doesn't change the reality; round one has to be scored in the American's favour, it's far from clear this matters.

McDavid is still working his way back from a 40-day absence with a hand injury, but he started the game brightly – dancing to the net to create a pair of scoring chances on his second shift – and even blocked a shot in the second period, an ill-advised display of grit given the score was 4-0 at the time.

There's no particular urgency for McDavid to return to form, Team Canada got all the offence it needed from the likes of Robby Fabbri (two goals, two assists), Nic Petan (goal, two assists), Jake Virtanen (goal, assist) and Max Domi (goal, assist).

McDavid's time at this tournament will come; in the meantime teammates like 19-year-olds Sam Reinhart and Anthony Duclair (who scored a beauty in the first) will hold the fort.

Every would-be hero needs a villain with whom to match wits, and the Bell Centre quickly identified just the man for the job.

In Friday's early game, Eichel – an 18-year-old Boston University centre who will rival McDavid for top billing at next June's NHL draft – put his not inconsiderable talents on display.

The strapping forward was simply dominant in leading the Americans to a 2-1 shootout squeaker over defending-champion Finland – he was lustily booed at various points in the game, the jeers reached a crescendo when he led off the shootout (he scored).

Asked afterward if he's prepared to serve as the heel in this piece, he said: "Yeah. I know we're going to be scrutinized and up against things, but we don't really want to let the crowd or any outside distractions get to us, we just want to focus on playing hockey."

Whereas McDavid's genius lies in his speed and rapier-like stickhandling, Eichel is every NHL general-manager's dream: a big, smooth, skilled, physically punishing centre.

The U.S. quickly found itself down 1-0 to the Finns after some defensive zone bumbling, but Eichel took care of all that on a power-play midway through the first period.

Taking a pass in the neutral zone and gliding into the Finland end, he powered past a couple of defenders and took the puck behind the net, where he banked a nifty little pass to himself off the end boards and calmly swivelled to send a pinpoint backhand pass onto the stick blade of linemate Alex Tuch.

Tie game.

It wasn't the last flash of brilliance from Eichel, who nearly scored on a power move to the net in the second, dished out a couple of heavy hits, and mixed it up after a whistle in the third with Finnish defenceman Julius Honka, The two exchanged face-washes, Eichel earned a penalty for his trouble and subtracted himself from the game during a desperate Finn push – "I was starting to regret it a little bit," he said of sitting in the box in the late going.

The Americans are not a team without flaws, but with Eichel as their power-play general they are to be feared.

Head coach Mark Osiecki said the obvious benefit from a hard-won tournament opener was "the leadership really came out" – he then referred specifically to forward J.T. Compher and to Eichel.

"Jack takes charge, says the right things," he said.

So is that why you made him captain?

"Yes," Osiecki replied. "Unbelievable."

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