Jamie Benn 'didn't try to impress' after not being invited to Canada's Olympic camp

Canadian forward Jamie Benn made a big impact in limited ice time during an Olympic tournament opening 3-1 win over Norway on Thursday, scoring one goal and registering three shots in just under nine minutes.

The 24-year-old is the only forward to have made the team without having been invited to Canada's Olympic orientation camp back in August, and, according to Jonas Siegel of TSN, Benn took to heart the following message from Mike Babcock to all non-invitees:

Do something about it. The great thing about life is you get to control what happens to you the majority of the time. Do something about it if you're not here.

Benn admits to being motivated by the omission, with an important qualifier. "Obviously Canada can put some pretty good teams together and every guy that went to the orientation camp deserved to be there," he said. "It just gave me a little bit more motivation coming into this year."

However, Benn says he didn't change anything about the style of play that has seen him morph from a fifth-round draft pick into an NHL captain. "I just went out there in the first half and focused on the Dallas Stars and what I had to do to win hockey games over there,” said Benn. “I didn't change anything. I didn't try to impress."

Whether he tried or not, Benn certainly did impress during the Stars' first 58 games, racking up 22 goals, 29 assists and 201 shots. And he impressed again in his Olympic debut on Thursday, not only registering a goal but also drawing a penalty call that led to Canada's opening marker with an extra attacker out on the ice.