Ottawa 67′s Travis Konecny gets first two OHL goals in big opening weekend for No. 1 overall pick (VIDEO)

Travis Konecny won the OHL's opening weekend, suffice to say.

(With all due respect to Sault Ste. Marie's Jared McCann.)

As suggested half in jest, the bits of beyond-his-years brilliance from the centre whom Ottawa chose first overall in the Ontario Hockey League priority selection draft last spring already seem routine. Granted, we are in the early stages of the season when junior coaches give a lot of ice time to their 16- and 17-year-old rookies, to see how they can hang in with much older players.

So with the disclaimers dispensed with, here's a peek at Konecny's Sunday, which included his first two OHL goals during Ottawa's 4-3 loss to the North Bay Battalion. The 16-year-old from Clachan, Ont., did not do a lot, really, other than showing pro-quality hands on the two goals, displaying an edge when he knocked down an overage, North Bay's 6-foot-2, 214-pound captain Barclay Goodrow, and also showing his smarts by picking off a pass to earn a short-handed breakaway.

As noted previously, Konecny also had two helpers during Ottawa's opener on Friday, putting him in the first-week lead in the rookie scoring race.

Perhaps this is hyperbole, but it's worth offering a contrast to the skulduggery in the Buffalo Sabres-Toronto Maple Leafs preseason game on Sunday. The junior game and junior players are not above that by any stretch, but seeing Konecny do his thing affirms how the game purports to be about skill and drive, not contradictory codes and mindless machismo.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca (video: Ottawa 67`s).