For the sport’s best players, coming out on top in a National Hockey League All-Star Game can be fun, exciting and downright gratifying.
But winning an international Olympic-like competition such as the new, upcoming 4 Nations Face-off Tournament for your home country?
Now nothing beats that.
Several of the Flyers’ four representatives in the event confirmed that after Friday’s practice at the Flyers Training Center.
Philadelphia is sending defenseman Travis Sanheim and right wing Travis Konecny to play for Canada; goaltender Samuel Ersson to compete for Sweden and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen to assist Finland. The United States is also involved in the action.
Sanheim said he likes the round-robin format. While he wouldn’t have minded getting a 10-day break in the demanding NHL schedule like many of his Flyer teammates will, he said he appreciates the honor of being selected to compete for his country.
“Anytime you get to represent your country, playing with the best players at the highest level, it’s going to be a really cool experience for me,” Sanheim said. “I’ve been looking forward to it. Really can’t wait to get started.”
Although Sanheim is only ranked in a tie for 30th for scoring among NHL defensemen, he’s almost always matched up against the top lines from other teams. Although the Flyers are a minus-31 as a team, he was a decent minus-7 through 55 games.
Going into Saturday night’s game against Pittsburgh, Ersson was coming off one of the finest games of his young career, a 3-2 overtime loss at Utah on Tuesday night.
Ersson faced a Flyers’ season-high 42 shots and it took a last-second break-in shot in the extra session to beat him.
Sweden has the nets well covered with Ersson, plus the Minnesota Wild’s Filip Gustavsson and the Ottawa Senators’ Linus Ullmark on hand.
Ersson has enjoyed some success at the world level. His 1.44 goals-against average at the 2024 IIHF championship helped Sweden take home a bronze medal.
Even so, he might be third on the team depth chart. Gustavsson is 20-11-3 for the Wild and Ullman checks in with a 2.41 goals-against average for the Senators.
“It’s a best-on-best tournament so it’s definitely special to be a part of that,” Ersson said. “And you never know how many of those chances you’re going to get.”
Ersson agreed with the premise that the tournament is sort of a mini-Olympics. Although Russia isn’t involved (partly due to international politics), these four countries provide the majority of players for the NHL.
“It’s kind of like ramping up for the (2026) Olympics,” Ersson said. “I think all hockey fans and all hockey players have wanted this for such a long time, to get this type of tournament going with national teams.
“It will be fun to finally get to do it and everyone gets to see it.”
Even though he made some spectacular saves in the Utah game, Ersson is his own toughest critic.
“We didn’t get the win so it is what it is,” he said. “That performance, you take from it what you can learn.”
Canada is first up on Sweden’s schedule and that’s bound to get the chirpy Konecny going as the tournament nears.
“I don’t know,” Ersson said with a grin. “We play the first game and it definitely will be special.”
As for the Flyers who aren’t playing in the tournament, it’s a well-earned break from the demanding schedule.
Veteran defenseman Erik Johnson will be headed home to Colorado, where he spent the majority of his career.
“We’re finding different ways to lose right now, which is frustrating,” he said after Friday’s practice.
Maybe this time away from the rink can provide a mental re-set. For the last-place Flyers right now, there’s only one way to go and that’s up.
