PHILADELPHIA \u2013 It\u2019s been 12 long years since the NHL participated in the Winter Olympics and four members of the Flyers organization couldn\u2019t be happier to help bring it back.<\/p>\n
Flyers coach Rick Tocchet, who will be an assistant coach for Team Canada, will be joined by Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim (Canada), Dan Vladar (Czech Republic) and Rasmus Ristolainen (Finland) when the hockey portion of the Games gets underway on Feb. 12.<\/p>\n
During a press conference at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday morning, Tocchet summed up the contingent\u2019s feelings about taking part in this historic occasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s huge for the world to see them \u2013 the (Connor) McDavids, the (Nathan) MacKinnons \u2013 set the stage, it\u2019s been a long time,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to grow the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Remember how the 2010 Winter Games ended with Sidney Crosby\u2019s overtime goal securing the gold medal for Canada in front of a hometown crowd at Vancouver? Video of that brilliant play was showing around the world for weeks after the Games ended.<\/p>\n
Now, many hockey fans will be eager to see NHL hockey on the world stage again.<\/p>\n
This could be crucial for professional hockey in North America because of the possibility of a work stoppage in the not too distant future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know people might think the work stoppage will stop momentum,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cBut I think in the grand scheme of things every once in a while, these things (the Olympics) are good for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanheim got a good taste of international hockey at the 4 Nations tournament last year. He learned some meaningful stuff from that event and hopes to add to that knowledge over the next couple weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was a good learning experience,\u201d said Sanheim, who took home a gold medal with the Canadian team at 4 Nations. \u201cIt will help a lot of us, just being around those guys every day, (seeing) what they do.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow they prepare \u2013 and winning on top of it. Really excited to get back with those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet said his players should make the most of what could be a once-in-a-lifetime dream come true.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud of these guys to represent their countries,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re going against the best of the best. You\u2019re considered one of the best in your country. You have to be ready for anything. There\u2019s no personal agenda when you\u2019re playing for your country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanheim was asked what Vladar\u2019s excellence has meant to the Flyers and could it translate to the Olympics.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been awesome for us,\u201d Sanheim said. \u201cHe\u2019s a big reason why we\u2019ve been in a lot of games. I\u2019m not looking forward to playing against him, he\u2019s been playing great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ristolainen was injured and couldn\u2019t play in the 4 Nations, so getting a chance in the Olympics could make up for some lost time when it comes to playing the world\u2019s best.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery excited,\u201d Ristolainen said. \u201cBeen injured in the past so it feels extra special being able to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada is the heavy favorite to win this competition so there\u2019s the usual pressure of being expected to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s the mentality of Canada,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cThere\u2019s a ton of pressure. I can\u2019t speak for other countries but that\u2019s the way Canada looks at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, there\u2019s the two-way comfort level which Sanheim and Tocchet will enjoy. They speak daily around the Flyers, so a lot of the things they go over will be easily understood by both men.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust the relationship, I think that goes a long ways,\u201d Sanheim said. \u201cStarting off on the right foot. I was excited when he was named to coach this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
www.flyingfishhockey.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2013 It\u2019s been 12 long years since the NHL participated in the Winter Olympics and four members…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,11211],"class_list":{"0":"post-449888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-dln"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116027460486039828","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}