Winger Brad Marchand brings unique gritty style to Team Canada

Team Canada's Brad Marchand takes a shot on net during practice in Ottawa on Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, in preparation for the World Cup of Hockey. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)

OTTAWA -- Stocked with No. 1 draft picks, Hart, Norris and Vezina Trophy winners, Team Canada has no one else quite like the five-foot-nine feisty ball of energy that is Brad Marchand.

Few in hockey, for that matter, are quite like him.

"Small, slow and ugly?" Tyler Seguin, a former Boston Bruins teammate, said with a chuckle. "No, there's not many Brad Marchands out there."

Seguin affectionately refers to him as "the rat" but as he points out, the 28-year-old has evolved into something much more than just an agitator.

"He's very good at what he does," Seguin said this week at Canada's camp in preparation for the World Cup of Hockey. "Especially the last few years he's found the right line between getting under other players' skin, but also being disciplined. I think he was trying to figure that out his first year that I was playing with him. And he's really found it now."

A Halifax native, Marchand scored a career-high 37 goals last season, fifth-best in the NHL, right alongside more heralded scorers like Steven Stamkos, Jamie Benn and Corey Perry.

Marchand has actually been one of the more productive scorers in the league over the past three seasons, despite garnering minimal power-play time. In fact, his 66 even-strength goals since the start of the 2013-14 season is tied for 12th most, about on par with Phil Kessel (68) and more than the likes of Blake Wheeler (61), Zach Parise (54), Jeff Carter (54), or Taylor Hall (53).

"There's not many guys in the league that are around those numbers without power play," said Marchand, who finished 261st among NHL skaters in power play time last season. "I always felt that I was right there. Just got a little more opportunity last year so it was nice that it kind of came together."

In reality, Marchand shot the puck a whole lot more than he ever had previously -- he mustered a career-high of 250 shots -- while maintaining a solid bit of accuracy (14.8 per cent).

That production, combined with a still feisty brand -- he ranked 19th in minor penalties last year despite Seguin's assertions -- was enough to earn him a spot with Canada, edging Hall, a former No. 1 overall pick.

Marchand began training camp paired with Sidney Crosby and Bruins teammate Patrice Bergeron, a combination head coach Mike Babcock preferred for its familiarity: Crosby and Bergeron seem to click at every international tournament, including the 2014 Olympics, while Bergeron and Marchand make up two-thirds of the top line in Boston, a superb puck possession duo.

Just like he does for the Bruins, Marchand intends to hound the puck with a hard-charging blend of speed and physicality. Canada will use him alongside Bergeron on the penalty kill, too.

Landing a spot on Canada's World Cup roster had been a goal of Marchand's since the tournament's revival was first broached. A quality year for the Bruins, he figured, might be enough to propel him onto the roster. Marchand played for Canada at the worlds in Russia this past spring (four goals in 10 games) and scored the first goal in the gold-medal game of the 2008 world junior championships, a tilt his team captured in overtime.

"He's a lot better on your team than he is on the opposing team," Carey Price, a 2007 world junior teammate, said.

Marchand teared up when Doug Armstrong, Canada's GM, called to tell him he'd made the World Cup squad this summer. Alongside his wife at the time, Marchand quickly dialled his father to tell him the good news and then called "everyone after that".

"I couldn't believe that it all came together," he said. "It was a dream come true and such a big honour. This is the biggest stage you can play on. You're playing with the best players from the world; it just kind brings you to that next elite level.

"I was ecstatic to get that call."