The Capitals prospect made headlines with three goals and three assists in his first U20 World Juniors run.
WASHINGTON — For the Washington Capitals, prospect Ryan Leonard is reminiscent of Tom Wilson in quite a few ways. He's one of those players that you love to have on your team, but ultimately loathe playing again. And that's exactly what Leonard wanted to — and did — bring to the table to help Team USA capture gold at the IIHF World Junior Championships.
Leonard posted a point in all but one of his WJC appearances in his first-ever U20 tournament, finishing with three goals and three assists en route to a gold medal. He also shot the puck from just about everywhere, stuck up for his teammates, outmuscled his opponents and played something of a "pest" role, all while contributing offensively.
"( enjoyed) just the overall experience of mental toughness," Leonard said on Tuesday.
That "mental toughness" was a big part of the tournament for Leonard, who wasn't the most well-liked opponent on the ice during the course of the tournament.
His iconic celebration didn't help in that regard either, but the 18-year-old loves being that type of player.
"That's always kind of just been me playing with a little chip on my shoulder," Leonard said matter-of-factly. "There's always gonna be people that don't appreciate the way you play on the other side. But I think it's all part of the game and every team's gonna have one of those guys and I'm lucky enough to be that guy."
What capped off his World Juniors run, though, was his iconic goal celebration in the gold medal game. After winning a battle for the puck and staying with the play despite some aggressive backchecking, he fired a quick shot past Hugo Havelid to give Team USA a three-goal lead over Team Sweden late in the gold medal game.
From there, he felt the adrenaline spike and his heart beat faster as his excitement kicked into higher gear. In turn, he came up with an iconic celebration on the fly, blowing a kiss to the crowd in Sweden.
His goal would be critical in an eventual 6-2 win for his first-ever gold medal, and the celebration would go viral. For Leonard, though, it wasn't planned, and just sort of happened.
"I just think the whole setting of them having probably 11,000 and most of the families that were able to go of us having 200 max people and then just all the other supporters. It was just the heat of the moment, and we all were just dying to win the game," Leonard said. "The whole game, it was just all yellow noise for them. It was good to kind of give it back to them."
Overall, his performance impressed the Capitals, and Leonard said it was good to hear from some of the players and members of the organization as he prepares to head back to Boston College.
He has 18 points in 17 games this season and appears to be well-adjusted to the NCAA. While Leonard is ready to continue to work toward the pros, he isn't trying to fast-track anything.
"Obviously, it's always in the back of your head when you're going to turn pro and then when you're going to take that next step. Honestly, right now, I'm worried about Providence Friday night," Leonard said of what's next. "That's kind of the last of my worries. The NHL is always going to be there, but I think just college is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so you never want to rush out of there. Kind of just want to soak it all in and see what you can make happen here."