Ottawa — The last time Jordan Eberle(notes) was in Ottawa, it was to play for Canada in the world junior hockey championship.
He had almost 20,000 fans in full-throat, screaming his name after he coolly lifted a backhand past a flailing Russian goalie with five ticks left on the clock to save Team Canada in the tournament semifinal.
The Edmonton Oilers rookie forward won't hear any cheers Monday night when the Oilers (6-12-4) face the Senators.
"I doubt it … nah, I don't think so. Too long ago," said Eberle.
He doesn't expect he'll see any fans wearing Team Canada sweaters with Eberle name-bars on the back, either. That was then, back in January 2009, this is now, deep into 2010.
Eberle is pretty much doing for the Oilers what he did for Canada at the world championship: getting points and getting into the heat of the action. The 20-year-old has 14 points in 22 games, which puts him third in team scoring behind Ryan Whitney(notes)'s 18 and Ales Hemsky(notes)'s 15.
In the NHL's rookie scoring race, Eberle is tied with Derek Stepan(notes) of the New York Rangers for second, behind Carolina Hurricanes winger Jeff Skinner(notes)'s 19 points.
However, the Regina native hasn't scored in 13 games, back to Oct. 29 against the Blackhawks in Chicago. That may be sticking in his craw, but he has six assists. And in two games during that stretch he has played fewer than 18 minutes in each game.
Eberle was on the ice in the dying seconds with fellow rookie Taylor Hall(notes) against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, both desperate trying to send the game to overtime.
They were matched against Sharks stars Joe Thornton(notes), Patrick Marleau(notes) and Dany Heatley(notes), not to mention the savvy Dan Boyle(notes) on defence, on almost every shift. There was no magic Saturday, but the fact he and Hall were out there in the frenzied last few seconds was testament to what the coaches think of the rookies, who are also roommates.
Eberle is a little farther advanced than Hall so far this season, as well as fellow rookie Magnus Paajarvi(notes).
"I think it's because he's that one year older, as well as Jordan playing in the world championship, being on the international stage … the way he led that group, that's given him a little more depth to his game (NHL level)," said associate coach Ralph Krueger.
"What we've noticed is how responsible Jordan is defensively. He hasn't had to spend as much time as Taylor or Magnus learning the game away from the puck. It's come more natural to him."
Eberle almost had his face torn off by a Heatley follow-through on his power-play goal in the second period when he was killing a penalty, but it's all a learning process.
"The matchups Jordan and Taylor are getting like the one against San Jose has to make them both stronger," said Krueger, the longtime Swiss national team coach. "
"We had to put our three very, very best defensive forwards in all of Switzerland every shift against Thornton, Heatley and Marleau when we played against Canada at the Olympics and here we're going with Jordan and Taylor and (veteran Shawn) Horcoff against those guys all night long.
"That's exciting to see how much we believe in their defensive game, and how little problem they had five-on-five."
Hall came close to scoring in the last 20 seconds on Saturday with a dazzling open-ice move, then fired a bullet that ricocheted off the shoulder of Sharks goalie Antero Niittymaki(notes), with Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk(notes) pulled for an extra attacker.
And Eberle, who set up Hall's winning goal against the Colorado Avalanche last Thursday, had a brilliant backhand through traffic, right onto Hall's tape with 29 seconds to go.
"What I notice about Jordan is how you almost never get a full hit on him," said former NHL winger Rob Brown, who works on the Oilers' broadcasts. "He's been small his entire hockey life and he's figured out a way to play the angles, to turn his body, to duck under checks."
Hall is bullishly exciting with the puck on his stick, while the smaller Eberle weaves his way in and through high-volume traffic— just as he did in the world junior tournament.
"It was an exciting time, having the tournament in Canada, in the capital. Yeah, it will be kind of neat going back there. First time (since the world junior)," said Eberle, who swears he never once glanced at the clock as Canada's life was running out.
"All I know is a lot of good stuff had to happen. When the puck popped free, that's all I had, the backhand. Spur of the moment. All I was thinking was do it quick," he said of the goal which tied the semifinal, which Canada went on to win.
A fan in the stands at Scotiabank Place had his camera running through the last frantic moments. When Eberle scored, the cheer was deafening. One bellow cut through the delirium though.
"Oh my god," yelled one fan.
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