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But Bjorkstrand’s mug is a reminder of something that is apparent the more you watch this tournament: these guys are just kids. Are they ever kids. You see it in the hilariously excited reaction of the Denmark team when they managed to knock off Switzerland in a shooutout on Tuesday to win their first-ever game at this level of the world juniors. They sang and they chanted and they cheered and drank Gatorade and when the TV cameras left they probably managed to drink something even stronger, like Red Bull.

You see it in their faces and bodies, with cheeks flushed red after a practice and chins that are still a breeding ground for acne rather than facial hair.

And, you see it in the impossibly soft-spoken manner of Connor McDavid, who would probably answer every question asked of him with a shrug if not for the fact that someone once told him that shrugs make for lousy audio. McDavid, 17, has been a pro prospect for three years now, but he’s still just an aw-shucks kid.

Asked on Friday if he was at all frustrated with the fact that he hadn’t yet had a breakout game in the tournament, despite the fact that he was scoring at a clip of almost three points a game before he broke his hand six weeks ago, McDavid made a face at the suggestion that he might have expected to score more here. “Nah,” he said. These are great players, he said, and he wouldn’t imagine scoring three or four points a night.

The first few times I heard McDavid talk down his personal statistics at the world juniors, I thought it was just a case of a kid being savvy enough to put team before self. But I’m starting to think McDavid is just who he is: a young guy who is not used to this big stage and who just wants to contribute. He’s not polished enough to feed the press a team-first line, and that’s not a criticism.