Nathan MacKinnon is one of the best young players in the NHL. He’s also one of the fastest.
The Colorado Avalanche forward won the Calder Trophy for the league’s best rookie in 2013-14, so his skills with a hockey stick are well-documented. If you didn’t know just how fast the 19-year-old is, though, hockey equipment manufacturer CCM would like to enlighten you.
CCM equipped MacKinnon with a pair of its new Tacks skates and had him square off against Olympic speed skater and three-time gold medal winner Charles Hamelin.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz4YOZKKlHg&w=640&h=360]
Yeah, MacKinnon beat him.
The race was a short one — from blue line to blue line — and the two were wearing completely different equipment, so it’s hard to say what would happen if they raced over a longer distance.
Still, the fact that the Avs forward can skate faster than someone whose only job is to skate really fast is pretty impressive.
