Oilers captain saw plenty of pair when forwards were with Calgary

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 Connor McDavid started playing mini-sticks against Sam Bennett when the two boys were six years old growing up in the Newmarket area, about 30 miles north of Toronto.

And the Edmonton Oilers captain says he’s seen plenty of Matthew Tkachuk over the years, too, having faced him on multiple occasions in the Battle of Alberta from 2016-21 while Tkachuk was with the Calgary Flames.

As such, McDavid certainly knows what to expect from the Florida Panthers’ top two agitators in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, which begins with Game 1 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).

“They’re both very familiar to me,” the Oilers forward said Wednesday. “There are no surprises. They both play hard.”

In the only previous playoff series he’s faced Tkachuk, McDavid lit up the Flames for 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in Edmonton’s five-game elimination of Calgary in the 2022 Western Conference Second Round. Tkachuk had a hat trick in Game 1, a wild 9-6 Flames victory, but only had one more point the remainder of the series, an assist in Edmonton’s 5-2 win in Game 2.

Tkachuk was traded to the Panthers that summer and has now helped Florida reach the Final for a second consecutive season. In the process, McDavid is banking on again seeing the trademark traits from one of the League’s premier power forwards: feistiness, physicality and competitiveness from someone who’s always playing on the edge, always trying to grind under the collective skins of his opponents.

“I would expect the same guy,” he said, a wry smile on his face. “The same guy. He’s a great player.

“Smart, effective, understands the, you know, gamesmanship side of the game. He’s good at it.”

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So is McDavid’s childhood pal and teammate Bennett, who was traded by the Flames to the Panthers in 2021. Both Tkachuk and Bennett like to check and chirp, often on the same shift.

As such, Florida, as a whole, is expected to be a far more bruising test than the Dallas Stars, the team the Oilers eliminated in six games in the Western Conference Final. McDavid said the Oilers are ready for it.

“We played a real physical team in Vancouver as well,” he said, referring to Edmonton’s elimination of the Canucks in seven games in the Western Conference Second Round. “It’s the playoffs. It’s the Final. You expect physicality no matter who you’re playing. And obviously Florida plays a fast game. In your face. Aggressive.”

Almost sounds like he was describing his childhood mini-stick games against Bennett, his teammate for the majority of their minor hockey careers. According to Bennett, they played minor hockey together for eight years: six with Simcoe-York and two with the Toronto Marlboros, most with McDavid at center and Bennett on the wing.

There were mini-stick games at hotels during road tournaments and countless practices at the custom-made rink then-NHL goalie Curtis Joseph had inside a barn on his ranch during the years when his son, Tristan, played on their team.

Now, for McDavid and Bennett, friends become foes in the Final.

“Yeah, it’s pretty wild to think about,” McDavid said. “I grew up with Sammy. We spent a lot of time together, whether it was hockey, mini-sticks, whatever. We were linemates for a long time. Definitely, like I said, a guy I know well.

“It’s kind of funny to go up against him in a Stanley Cup Final. We played a lot of mini-stick games against each other, I guess. Maybe not as big as stakes as there are today.

“It’s going to be a really good test. He’s very competitive. He plays hard.”

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That was the case when both were boys, according to Joseph.

“Not a smile was broken in the hallways of a Holiday Inn from either of them during one of those road tournaments when they were going head-to-head in those mini-stick games because that’s how competitive they were,” Joseph said with a laugh during a phone interview Wednesday night from his home in Arizona.

“I always remember Sam being really serious as a kid. He had extreme focus. So did Connor, but he had more fun. They were better skaters than 99 percent of the kids they played against.”

That was especially true of McDavid, Bennett said.

“He always had an extra gear.”

Now, the job at hand for Tkachuk and Bennett: Make sure the Oilers star doesn’t get a chance to use it.

Joseph, who played 943 NHL games for the Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix Coyotes from 1989-2009, never got a chance to appear in a Stanley Cup Final, although he faced Matthew’s dad Keith Tkachuk on numerous occasions. He’s happy to see McDavid get the opportunity, although he’s intrigued by the matchup of Matthew and Bennett trying to slow him down.

“I do know this, there will be no pleasantries between them when the puck is dropped,” Joseph said. “In the case of Sam and Connor, there will be no ‘How’s the family?’ None of that.

“They’ve been that way since the beginning of time when they’ve been on opposite sides, and it’s not about to change now.”

Not with the Stanley Cup on the line.