The NHL is on hold until after February 20th to make way for the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament. The tournament will take place from February 12th through the 20th. The 4 Nations will include teams representing the USA, Canada, Sweden, and Finland. The first question any astute hockey fan might ask is why is Russia not part of the event? Russia has not taken part in any international competition since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Samuel Ersson
Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson was born in Falun Sweden and has been chosen to represent his country in the tournament. Ersson was named to Team Sweden in January when it was announced that fellow countryman Jacob Markstrom, of the New Jersey Devils, is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a sprained MCL.
Ersson will be on the roster with the likes of; Filip Forsberg, Mika Zibanejad, William Nylander, Victor Hegman, and Erik Karlsson just to name a few. He will be sharing the goaltending duties with Filip Gustavsson (Minnesota Wild) and Linus Ullmark (Ottawa Senators).
Get ’em while he’s hot
Ersson has been playing some great hockey. Even when the Flyers have been floundering as of late the problem has been “goals for” not “goals against”. Samuel Ersson has certainly been holding up his end of the deal. He is currently 16-10-3 with a 2.81 GAA and a .896 SV%.
The Flyers netminder did not have the steadiest start this season and was in and out of the line-up due to injury throughout the Fall. Things have been falling into place for him since the beginning of this calendar year. In his games since the holiday break leading up to this tournament he is 9-4-1 with a 2.26 GAA and a .920 SV%.
History
Samuel was drafted by the Flyers in 5th round 143rd overall in 2018. He started his professional hockey career in Sweden before coming to the States in 2021 and playing two seasons with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Ersson played 12 games with the Flyers over the 2022-23 season.
Ersson was expected to backup Carter Hart during the 2023-24 season but ended up playing 51 games. Head coach John Tortorella often said he knew he was overworking the rookie goaltender but he also knew Ersson gave the team its best shot at winning hockey games.
His most recent starts have been some of his best performances in a Flyers uniform. Samuel Ersson is headed into this tournament at the top of his game.
Who
Fellow Flyers Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim will be part of Team Canada. Flyers head coach John Tortorella will serve as an assistant coach for Team USA. Unfortunately Rasmus Ristolainen was chosen to be part of Team Finland but will miss the tournament due to an upper body injury.
What Where When
The 4 Nations Face-Off begins this Wednesday February 12th at 8:00PM when Team Sweden takes on Team Canada at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The first four round-robin games will be played in Montreal. The final two round-robins and the championship game will be played at TD Garden in Boston.
The championship game will take place on Thursday February 20th at 8:00PM. The Flyers will resume their NHL schedule on Saturday February 22nd when they host the Edmonton Oilers in Philadelphia.
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