Do not underestimate the power of not inviting someone.
We’d be willing to bet you can recall a time you weren’t invited to a party or a sporting event or a shinny game, and it stung like the prick of a thousand hornets.
Well, teammates Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin — both passed over when it came time to hand out invitations to Team Canada’s Olympic orientation camp — are doing their damndest not to become this Winter Games’ Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis, snubbed in 2010 despite their terrific seasons.
The non-invite to Calgary’s summer ball-hockey camp in August has fueled the talented linemates.
“It’s given me the fire for the start of the season. I want to be on that Olympic team,” Benn said back in August. “I’m going to have to go out in the first half of the season and make them want to pick me. I’m just going to have to have the best first half of the year I can have and make an impact for the Dallas Stars.”
After Thursday’s feeding frenzy that saw Benn and Seguin combine for 11 points and a plus-six rating in Dallas’s 7-3 rout of the Calgary Flames, the duo is now tied for fifth in NHL scoring with 22 points apiece through 19 games.
“Like most teams, you don’t often find one guy up in the standings,” said coach Lindy Ruff. “It’s usually two guys that work well together. Those two guys have had chemistry ever since camp.”
Captain Benn doubled his previous best night (a three-pointer) by throwing up five assists and this Bobby Orr-esque flying goal, becoming the first Star to register six points since Mike Modano accomplished the feat in February of 1995.
You seeing this, Mr. Yzerman?