In his first installment, Duchene talks about the importance of quickly getting up to speed at training camp if you want to play an important role in a tournament like this.

Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene is playing for Team Canada at the World Cup of Hockey 2016. The 25-year-old has agreed to keep a diary throughout the tournament, which begins in Toronto on Sept. 17 and runs through Oct. 1.

OTTAWA -- This is not my first time with Team Canada, but this still takes some getting used to.

For me I think in (the 2014 Winter Olympics in) Sochi, it was something where my last few games I felt like I started to get comfortable, but my first two I waded in a little too much. I didn't dive in head first and just go out and play my game. Each game here is like 10 games in the regular season because you've got to try and make a mark. And if you're going to perform the way you can, you've got to make your mark early.

It doesn't matter who it is, to be able to help this team everybody's got to be at the top of their game playing the way they can. I think the biggest challenge is trying to get comfortable quick and to have confidence among so many great players.

The first few days you go out there and you see guys overpassing sometimes because they have too much respect for each other instead of just playing hockey. That's a natural thing that happens to players. But as this goes, you get more comfortable and just try to find your game within the team system.

Except you don't always have time to find that comfort level.

Mike Babcock is a very intelligent, demanding coach in terms of what he wants. He wants crispness, he wants sharpness; he wants you to be really confident. The second you show a lack of confidence, I think he sees it. He's a very smart guy.

Just trying to carry yourself like that is very important. Ask questions when you need to ask questions, but other than that, just go out and play hockey.

Sochi gave me a look into that. I think if this was my first experience it would be a little bit tougher to know what to expect.

This is a bit of a younger team than we had in Sochi, a bit of a different group, but one that is just as elite and we're jelling really well so far. I feel very lucky and honored to be a part of this and I'm hoping to do my part to help my country stay on top of the hockey world.

We've been spending lots of time together, whether it's dinners or watching the Blue Jays game together or some guys have been going golfing. There's been a whole bunch of stuff that guys are bonding over, and it's a really beneficial thing at this point of the tournament to get familiar with each other.

The more comfortable you are on and off the ice, the better it is.

On the ice, these practices are fast. You've got to think quick because you have no space, and this is just practice. Coming out of the summer, you're not sharp playing 5-on-5 because nobody's played a real 5-on-5 hockey game for however many months, so you've got to try and find it quick.

That's why it's nice to have three pretournament games, but at the same time, playing back to back against USA is going to be for keeps. Neither team is going to wade in. We want to win both those games; we want to win every game we touch the ice for in this tournament.

Getting to that level this early in the season is very demanding and we've just got to try and find it.