Canada's Cowan looks like a man on a mission ahead of World Juniors

Team Canada practiced at TD Place in Ottawa on Friday.

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London Knights forward Easton Cowan is on a 56 game regular season point streak in the Ontario Hockey League. Fifty-one of those games came after last year's World Juniors and, apparently, that's not a coincidence. 

"That was kind of the start of this whole streak that he's been on," said Knights defenceman Sam Dickinson. "That's been a big fuel lighter under him for a full year now. And to get back to this point, for him, he's even more fired up for it."

Cowan looks like a man on a mission ahead of his second crack at the World Juniors. Last year in Sweden, the Toronto Maple Leafs prospect was held to one goal and one assist as Canada finished a disappointing fifth place. 

"I know he's dying to get a win here and experience that winning feeling," said Team Canada assistant coach Chris Lazary. "It's his last chance at a World Juniors."

Lazary is the head coach of the Saginaw Spirit, who beat the Knights in the Memorial Cup final last season.

"There's footage of him sitting on one knee watching the celebration," Lazary recalled. "I think that stung him. He even said to me that he looked up at his parents to give the head shake like he's heartbroken. I don't think he wants that feeling again."

Cowan played a depth role with Team Canada last year. This time around he's playing on the top line with Oshawa Generals centre Cal Ritchie and Chicago Wolves winger Bradly Nadeau, and on the flank of the top power-play unit. As one of four returnees, Cowan will be counted on for leadership. He certainly set the tone in Thursday's first pre-tournament game against Switzerland. Cowan scored three goals in the 7-1 win. 

What's it like to produce a hat trick in a Team Canada sweater? 

"I'm pretty sure it's my first one in juniors," said Cowan, who has eight two-goal games in the OHL. "It's pretty special, but hopefully I can do it in a real game."

Canada opens the World Juniors against Finland on Boxing Day. Based on his current form, Cowan certainly looks capable of producing some big numbers. 

"I'm speechless," said Owen Sound Attack goalie Carter George. "He's so good out there."

"Easton's driving that line right now," said Team Canada head coach Dave Cameron. "They were fun to watch."

Cowan was fun to watch in the OHL playoffs last season. He produced 34 points in 18 games while leading London to a title. 

"I feel like I play my best hockey on the big stage," said Cowan, who was named playoff MVP. "I feel like I've always had that in me. I'm super excited to show what I have and compete night in, night out, and do whatever it takes to win a gold medal."

Cowan insists he doesn't feel pressure to produce offensively. 

"I feel like I can provide more than scoring goals," he stressed. "Even last night I feel like I was hitting when I could, back checking, you know, having good tracks. I feel like my defence led to my offence. Even if I didn't have three goals, I still had a good game." 

"His play without the puck is not talked about as much as it should be," said Lethbridge Hurricanes centre Brayden Yager, who is Canada's newly-named captain. "His play in the D-zone is something I've noticed is a lot better and I think his 200-foot game has really grown."

Team Canada will be leaning on Cowan's complete game and tireless work ethic in Ottawa. 

"He can dominate when he's locked into a game," said Lazary. "He's a competitor. He can manipulate the outcome just based on his skill. He was dragging guys into the fight. Just an elite player. We will need him to bring that every game. We're counting on that game out of Easton."

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Cowan is used to having his play dissected thoroughly. That's what happens when you get drafted in the first round by Toronto. 

"There's going to be lovers and haters, especially in the Leafs market," the native of Mount Brydges, Ont. said with a smile. "Obviously there's a lot of attention anywhere you go so it's really matured me a lot."

Cowan had hoped to be playing in the NHL this season, but couldn't gain much traction at training camp. 

"No rush," he said. "I'm still 19-years-old. I'm still a kid, you know, learning the ways of life. It's probably a good thing I got an extra year of junior and can learn to cook more, get my mom to help me to cook, my billet mom too. Obviously it sucks. You want to make the team, but it's right for my development."

How's the cooking coming? 

"It's alright," Cowan said sheepishly. "I've learned to make tacos, chicken now, chicken parm, caesar salad, so nothing too special. I know [Toronto Marlies centre Fraser Minten] is a good cook, so hopefully he'll be able to cook me up some stuff next year."

Cowan has received messages of support from Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner as he prepares for the World Juniors.

"Showing that they're behind me," Cowan said. "It means a lot." 

Marner is a Knights alumnus. 

"He likes to chirp me here and there," Cowan says with a grin. "He's just saying, 'Good luck' and 'Play your game' and 'Do your thing.' Coming from him it means a lot."

When Matthews reached out, Cowan couldn't help but point out the Leafs captain has a pretty good track record at the Canadian Tire Centre, which will host Canada's games at the World Juniors.

"He just said, 'Good luck, score some goals.' Obviously he's had a lot of goals in that rink with his [four goal] debut there. I was chirping him about that. He just said, 'Do your thing, play your game and good things will come.'"

Minten, who served as Canada's captain last year, also sent a message.

"He's behind us," Cowan said. "Wished me the best of luck. He said, 'Play your game, play hard and leave no regrets.'"

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Cowan nearly had his own four-goal game on Thursday, but couldn't quite convert after a beautiful set-up from Medicine Hat Tigers winger Gavin McKenna. 

"Coming off the wall, I saw the guy's heels were turning the wrong way so attacked the opposite," McKenna said. "I saw Easton on the side there, and maybe I could have held onto it a big longer. I kind of gave him a tough angle there. If I would have held onto it a little longer and baited the defender over a bit he would have had a better chance."

When you lead the Western Hockey League with 60 points in 30 games, you have high standards. 

McKenna, who celebrated his 17th birthday on Friday, is the youngest player on Team Canada. He started Thursday's game as the 13th forward. 

"I thought as it went on I got more comfortable," he said. "Early on I was gripping my stick pretty tight, but I started making a few plays and started getting my confidence back ... Obviously being in that 13th forward spot, you don't want to mess up. Being a young guy you want to fit in. I'm not used to playing that [role]. [Getting] that first shift pretty late in the game there, it's kind of natural for me to be kind of nervous."

Cameron gave McKenna a mixed review. 

"In puck battles he looked young," the coach said. "With the puck he looked real good."

It looks like McKenna may have a regular role in Saturday's second pre-tournament game against Sweden. With Brampton Steelheads winger Porter Martone staying off the ice for maintenance on Friday, McKenna took his spot on a line with Spokane Chiefs centre Berkly Catton. 

"Everyone knows he's going to work his way up," Cowan said. "He's a great player, great guy off the ice too so that helps. Everyone knows he'll eventually be playing a big role for this team."

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McKenna led Canada to gold at the 2024 under-18 World Championship while setting a new national scoring record at the event (20 points in seven games). He added a Hlinka Gretzky Cup gold medal to his trophy case in the summer. 

Still, there's nothing like the World Junior stage, especially on home ice in Canada. 

"There's a lot of pressure and everyone's got their nerves," said Lazary. "I thought he did a lot of good things, and when he needed to compete, we thought he did. It's going to be a process for him going through this tournament."

If McKenna ever feels like the pressure is getting to him, he can look down at a tattoo on his arm. 

"Me and my mom and sister, we all got matching tattoos," he said. "It's the co-ordinates of my cabin, and then the mountains at my cabin. I grew up at that cabin. It's super important to me and my family. We all grew up there. It's a very special place."

The cabin is located four hours north of McKenna's hometown of Whitehorse. 

"It just brings calmness for sure," he said. "My grandpa, he built that himself ... It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We go hunting up there and we dirt bike and stuff so it's a place I'll remember forever. I love hanging out up there."

During the wintertime, though, the hockey rink is his happy place. 

"Most of my birthdays, we would rent the rink and have a little hockey game with all my buddies and team," McKenna said. 

What's it like to celebrate with Team Canada? 

"Nothing better," he said. "It's a dream come true. Every birthday you kind of look forward to watching the World Juniors after Christmas so for me to be here, it's pretty exciting."

Do teammates have anything planned? 

"I don't know what we're going to do," Cowan said with a sly smile. "Maybe the older guys have some pranks for him or something like that. We'll see."

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Canada got one power play on Thursday and it didn't take long for them to convert. 

"They fired me from the power play," said Lazary, who oversees the units. "All the boys said, 'We don't need you anymore, Laz.'"

Lazary's game plan was executed to perfection on the goal, which capped Cowan's hat trick. 

"We've been focusing on an attack mentality and the pace of our puck and our movement and wanting to get shots off passes and get shots early to creates chaos," he said. "I thought they did a great job. They made about five really hard, crisp, quality passes and then Easton shot off a pass and it's exactly what our focus has been. We don't want to over pass and kill our own power play. We want to have an attack mentality."

But it was only one power play so Team Canada still dedicated plenty of practice time to special teams on Friday. 

Draft-eligible defenceman Matthew Schaefer, 17, is quarterbacking the top unit despite being the team's youngest blueliner. Why? 

"His ability to scan before he gets a touch and, really, his desire to distribute when it comes up, and just keep it on the flanks and let those guys do their thing," explained Lazary. "He's shown he's committed to that for us. And when he does shoot the puck, he shoots it to a good area of the net, so we have a lot of threats with him up top. We're curious to see how he's going to do going along. The stage gets bigger, but he loves it. He's thriving in it, and we'll really be counting on him"

Schaefer picked up the primary assist on Cowan's man-advantage marker.

"Most people would just think that's an easy pass, but he faked, no looked, gave it me," Cowan said. "An elite play."

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Most of Canada's forwards operate on the flank of the power play with their club teams. That includes Ritchie, who is moving to the middle of the ice on Canada's top unit. 

"I think any team that pre-scouts us is going to look at him as a shot threat," said Lazary. "He's a dangerous player. It's going to commit PK guys to him and open up other stuff and, if they leave him alone, you look at Cowan's analytics and he's in the 86-per-cent range of a flank pass into the bumper being successful, which is one of the best in the CHL. So, if they leave Ritchie alone and Cowan can make a play into the middle then we got a dangerous player with a shot." 

Ritchie pointed out that he played the bumper spot a bit during his pre-season games with the Colorado Avalanche. 

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Nadeau is looking forward to facing off against Swedish winger and Wolves teammate Felix Unger Sörum on Saturday night in Canada's second pre-tournament game. 

"I've been playing with him all year so I know what he tends to do on the ice," said Nadeau, who has six goals and nine assists in 22 games in the AHL this season. "I might tell the other players what to watch and what to expect and hopefully we'll be able to shut him down."

Unger Sörum has two goals and five assists with Chicago this season. What's the scouting report? 

"He likes to hold onto the puck," Nadeau noted. "He's got really good puck control. He's a good playmaker, but if you stay on him and don't give him time, that's how you'll be able to shut him down."

Bragging rights are on the line. 

"He would always bring it up," Nadeau said with a grin. "He was like, 'Oh, we'll play each other. That will be a fun game. I hope the team gets together to watch us play.' We haven't talked since we left so we'll see each other tomorrow and hopefully we'll get the win here."

Nadeau is the only Canadian player going from professional hockey directly to the World Juniors this year. He's noticed one significant difference between the levels. 

"They move the puck in the neutral zone faster in the AHL," he said. "But skating, goalies, everything else is pretty much the same."

Nadeau's new teammates here have noticed that his professional habits have remained as he transitions back to the junior level.

"The little details he has in his game really stand out to me," Cowan said. "And he's got that quick shot that he can get off from anywhere."

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George got the start for Canada on Thursday. 

"To be able to show that the hard work's been put in, it just means the world to me," the 18-year-old from Thunder Bay, Ont. said. "Just going to keep going from here, take the momentum from [this game], and keep going with it."

George stopped all 11 shots he faced in two periods of action. He's facing 35 shots per night in the OHL this season while playing behind a young Attack team. 

"It's a little bit of an adjustment, but just staying in the moment and enjoying it is the key to this," he said. "I just stayed consistent with it and made the saves when it was called upon. We didn't give up too much and our team's pretty good defensively, so it's kind of nice playing back there in front of those guys."

The feeling was mutual. 

"Just the timely saves," said Yager when asked what stood out about George. "That's really all you can ask for in a goalie is just those big timely saves. There were times where we kind of broke down in the first two periods and he just sat there calm, cool, collected and made some pretty tough saves look easy."

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Lines at Friday's practice: 

Nadeau - Ritchie - Cowan
McKenna - Catton - Pinelli 
Howe - Luchanko - Cataford
Beaudoin - Yager - Gauthier 
Rehkopf 

Absent: Martone 

Molendyk - Gibson 
Schaefer - Bonk 
Dickinson - Akey 
Mynio - Price 

George
Bjarnason 
Ivankovic