MILAN — About a quarter century ago, when he first joined Team Canada’s front office, general manager Doug Armstrong said he felt like the Canadians started every tournament “on third base.”

“Using a baseball analogy, everybody else was on second or first,” he said Wednesday, a day before the team he assembled opened the Olympic tournament with a 5-0 win over Czechia. “Now there’s a lot of countries on third base, too, and that’s great for hockey.”

The parity through the first two days of the NHL-Winter Games reunion has been apparent, even between favored Team Canada and Czechia. It was a neck-and-neck game until the final seconds of the first period, when the future of Team Canada deflected a Cale Makar shot in front to break a 0-0 tie.

It was just the start of what is sure to be a long, and possibly illustrious, Olympic career for Macklin Celebrini.

“Nerves, excitement, all of the above,” said Celebrini, who — as the youngest player in the entire tournament — became the youngest Canadian NHLer to score a goal at the Olympics. “My heart was racing, I wanted to kind of get out on the ice and start playing. This is what we’ve been waiting for ever since the team was selected, so it was good to get out there and start the process.”

The 19-year-old could be at the center of international best-on-best competition to come.

No one knows the weight of those expectations better than Sidney Crosby, who earned that responsibility after his golden goal at 22-years-old in Vancouver in 2010. Celebrini has frequently been compared to the now longest-tenured member of Team Canada.

And as the competition around the globe continues to grow, Canada can only hope Celebrini has the same impact that Crosby had.

“He believes in himself,” Sid the Kid said of the New Kid. “I think he works hard. He’s obviously earned the right to be here. I don’t think he was a guy that was on the bubble. He played his way on to the team and he’s had an incredible year so far and just carried it over to today.”

Celebrini may have gotten Team Canada going on the scoreboard, but goalie Jordan Binnington stopped all 26 shots he saw. Despite backstopping Canada to a championship at 4 Nations this time last year, Binnington has been surrounded by doubters amid his worst NHL season since 2015-16.

When the red-and-white sweater comes on, however, Binnington’s top form seems to as well.

There was an overwhelming and hearty Czechia fan presence inside Santagiulia Arena. Almost every corner was draped with the Czech flag. It made for a high-energy environment.

The game opened up for the Canadians after Celebrini broke through. With Binnington on top of everything behind them, the star-studded forward group was able to heat up.

Asked when he decided on Binnington as his starting netminder, head coach Jon Cooper said “probably 358 days ago.”

“Listen, in the end, you have to perform,” Cooper continued. “This isn’t a loyalty thing. I have the utmost confidence in that kid. He’s proven it. Even when he’s had little stumbles, when pushes come to shove, the kid’s been there for us. It’s not going to guarantee that he’s going to do that continually moving forward, but he’s got a lot of pride, he’s got a lot of talent, and he’s done it on a lot of different stages. So you got to give the kid a shot.

“I feel like he’s deserved this opportunity, and tonight, there were some moments that, you know, little bit of heart-stoppers. And he was there for us.”