Team Canada's Brayden Point wins over Benoit Groulx: 'He's got a flair out there'

Brayden Point was likely Canada's best attacker in both outings this weekend, which only seems relelatory since his Moose Jaw Warriors aren't a marquee team.

The waterbug forward and his regular linemates, overages Tanner Eberle and Jack Rodewald, cut a huge swath through the WHL during the lead-up to the selection camp. With Warriors coach Tim Hunter riding his big line heavily, all Point did over his last dozen league games was put up 22 points before heading east. Going from constant double shifts with a young Warriors team to compressing his energy into the Team Canada-mandated short shifts proved to be an easy switch, as Point shone with two goals and an assist in Sunday's 6-0 win against the CIS Toronto Selects at Mattamy Athletic Centre. The 18-year-old also brushed aside that old camp canard about centres getting lost on the wing, since his best work came while flanking the big-bodies Frédérik Gauthier and Nick Ritchie.

"They're great players back in Moose Jaw, when you're playing with good guys [Eberle and Rodewald] it's easier to come here and play with good guys," the 5-foot-10, 163-pound Point said on Sunday. "We [his line with the Warriors] definitely a play a lot, but I don't mind that. The pace here is a little quicker than it is in the Dub so you burn out a little quicker and it's not too hard to keep your shifts the right length.

"It's just a little different in the defensive zone — trying to make plays off the wall," Point said of shifting to right wing. "That is really the only adjustment I've had to make."

For any non-WHL followers who are wondering, yes, one of Point's linemates is the brother of Jordan Eberle, who was steady-as-rent scoring exploits for the 2009 gold medal-winning team and 2010 silver-winning squad have only grown in memory during the country's current drought. It's a little early to start concocting a narrative, seeing as Connor McDavid is still a few days away from being cleared for contract. It bears noting, though, in the wake of several WJCs where Canada was deemed to lack creativity, Point's in the mix to provide it.

"He's playing with a lot of passion and completes," coach Benoît Groulx said of Point. "He's got a flair out there. He anticipates. He's been good — he's been very good."

Point might have looked positively Lilliputian when he was standing on the blueline for O Canada on Sunday along with 6-foot-7 skyscraper on skates Samuel Morin and the 6-foot-4 Gauthier and 6-foot-3 Ritchie. But someone who reads the ice like Point does isn't an underdog.

"It was a little nervous in the first game," Point said on Sunday. "But as it went along I started to feel comfortable, where I was able to make plays with the puck."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.