Brad Marchand ready for pressure on Canada at 4 Nations: 'It’s the country that cares about hockey the most'

TORONTO Brad Marchand might be the best example of how international hockey provides a momentary shift in fans loyalties.

Come February at the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Boston Bruins captain may very well be cheered in Montreal ...

and jeered in Boston? Itll be a different feeling, Marchand smiled over the weekend.

Advertisement And hearing cheers, finally, at the Bell Centre, could be interesting.

Ill take that off-set for a couple of days, he chuckled.

Itll be something I can laugh about.

Im more excited definitely to be cheered in Montreal (than potentially booed in his NHL home in Boston).

No question that what the 36-year-old Marchand looks forward to most, though, is playing alongside his fellow Nova Scotia natives Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon .

Who knows, maybe even on the same line.

Either way, those three, who work out in the summer together back home, are in regular contact, eagerly awaiting the February tournament.

Yeah, we talk a lot, Marchand said with a smile.

We have a good group chat going.

Were all very excited.

Its a privilege to be able to play on the same team as those guys.

We have fun and practice together in the summertime.

Its not often you have a dynamic like the one we have on a team.

Were all very excited and proud of it and really looking forward to playing together.

MacKinnon didnt hide his feelings on 4 Nations.

Im very excited to play with everyone and especially Brad and Sid, MacKinnon said.

They were two of my role models growing up and paved the way for me to chase my dreams of playing in the NHL.

Two of the most competitive guys in the league.

Were all lucky to have them on Team Canada! Added Crosby: It will be cool to play with them.

We skate a lot together in the summer, and Im really grateful to be with them on the same team.

All three Nova Scotia pals were part of Team Canadas original six players named for 4 Nations last June.

They sat back like the rest of us and monitored how Team Canada populated the rest of the roster announced Dec.

4.

Not easy.

Its an extremely tough choice, Marchand said.

You hear it all the time when these teams are made: You can easily ice two teams in Canada.

Theres a lot of great players that unfortunately arent part of it.

They have a vision of what they want, the type of players they want.

The biggest thing is building a team.

Sometimes that doesnt mean always taking the most talented players.

Advertisement The group we have, its an extremely competitive team, and thats what you look for in these groups.

Marchand is no stranger to wearing the Maple Leaf after playing in two world juniors and a mens IIHF worlds, but its the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto that was his introduction and as its turned out, his only experience so far with best-on-best hockey.

The World Cup (in 2016) is by far my favorite, Marchand said of his Team Canada experiences.

Just because when I got to the NHL, I never, ever thought or expected that I could be at that level or be part of a team like that.

I remember my first day sitting down in that room and looking around and thinking, I dont belong here.

From where my career started to get to that point, it was such a tremendous growth or 180 jump to even be in conversation with that group.

So that was really special.

And it kind of projected me to the last eight years and how things have gone.

To be part of that group and be so nervous going into it and not feeling I belong, to how comfortable I got pretty quickly and how close I became with some of the guys was obviously pretty special.

Marchand was spectacular at that 2016 World Cup, scoring five goals in six games as Team Canada won its third consecutive best-on-best event dating back to the 2010 Olympics.

While Crosby and Marchand got to play together at the World Cup, the Olympic experience has so far eluded the Bruins captain, mostly because the NHL hasnt been since 2014 in Sochi.

He has picked Crosbys brain about what the Olympics are like, as he has with his old Bruins pal Patrice Bergeron, another Team Canada Olympic mainstay.

Obviously Bergy and I are very close, Marchand said.

Theres a lot of guys who were part of those teams and you see their comfort level.

It makes you feel comfortable in that environment when you have guys who have been through it and had success.

You just kind of follow them and act like they do.

Their comfort level in those situations bleeds through the room.

Advertisement What Bergeron tried to share with his friend is the importance of quickly forging chemistry with new teammates in those short, high-profile tournaments.

I mean, he knows how special it is to represent your country on the international stage, whether its world juniors or the World Cup for him, and now the 4 Nations, Bergeron told The Athletic .

Its always special.

But its more trying to share how you try to connect with guys in a short tournament and how we try to soak everything in and learn as much as you can and really be grateful for what youre about to experience.

So its a lot of fun.

I have great conversations with Marchy all the time, but those experiences, for me the Olympics and anytime I could represent my country was very special.

And great memories.

Marchands experience will be needed when considering the pressure Team Canada is under to perform.

Oh for sure, Bergeron said.

The expectations are always there.

I remember something Steve Yzerman said to us in 2010 at the Olympics after we lost to the U.S.

in the round-robin.

As Bergeron remembers it, Team Canadas general manager spoke to the team in the wake of this country freaking out that it had lost a game.

Yzerman picked up a newspaper and pointed to the real-world things happening around the world real-life struggles, people risking their lives to put in perspective playing hockey.

Bergeron said Yzerman told Team Canadas players to just enjoy the challenge and be grateful and just play like they could.

Because its just a game.

The message resonated in Team Canadas dressing room.

To me, it was pretty important to understand that, Bergeron said.

It was reminding us that we were still in a great situation.

We were very fortunate.

Lets go out and play at the level we were capable of.

After that, we went back to playing dominating hockey.

Advertisement All of which still translates today, but in particular at a time when Canadas national pride is hurting after another early exit at World Juniors.

It probably adds another level of urgency to Canada performing well at the 4 Nations.

Which is why experience will matter under that microscope.

And Bergeron feels vets like Marchand and Crosby will be important that way.

Its not always going to be easy or a straight path in tournaments like this, Bergeron said.

You have to believe in your ability and be grateful for the opportunity that you have.

The World Juniors fallout is a reminder of how much the sport matters here.

Not that Marchand or any other Team Canada player needs a reminder of it.

They already know.

I think the people that hold the highest expectations are the guys in the room and those building the team, Marchand said.

We know the importance of playing for this team and the expectations that come with that, and we have them as well.

Now, having said that, Marchand added, the 4 Nations has four great rosters.

Its the cream of the cream.

Every team going into that tournament, youre picking some of the best players in the history of the game right now when you look at some of these guys and what theyve done and what theyre going to do, Marchand said.

So theres going to be very small margins, and these single-elimination games, anything can dictate the outcome.

So its tough.

All you can do is prepare the best you can and compete at your highest level.

However its meant to be, itll be.

Pressure? Of course.

Thats what comes with playing for Canada, Marchand said.

Its the country that cares about hockey the most.

Its the most scrutinized.

Thats part of being in the position were in.

And well take that any day.

(Top photo: Luke Hales / Getty Images).

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