CHICAGO – Three members of the Winnipeg Jets are headed to the Four Nations Face-Off in February and are thrilled to be part of the first best-on-best international tournament that hockey has seen since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Josh Morrissey will wear the red and white for Canada, while Connor Hellebuyck and Kyle Connor will don the red, white, and blue for the United States.
“It’s just a huge honour for me to have the chance to represent Canada again,” said Morrissey, who has won a World Junior title (2015) and a silver at the 2017 IIHF World Hockey Championship on his resume. “There’s a ton of great players in the league from Canada and to get that opportunity is something I definitely don’t take lightly. I’m just excited to have that opportunity to represent my country and to play alongside the league’s best and compete among the league’s best.”
Among all Canadian defenceman, Morrissey has the most even strength points (113) since the start of the 2022-23 season. His 25 points this season are the fourth most among NHL defencemen this season, even with his average ice time of 24:43 putting him 14th among his defensive peers.
He doesn’t know who his partner on the blue line will be just yet, but with Canada’s depth, he doesn’t think the coaching staff has many easy decisions ahead of them.
“We were joking around, if you’re a coach in the dressing room, looking at the white board and picking out lines, power plays, combinations and all of that, there are so many great options,” Morrissey said. “Whatever it ends up being, with how it all shakes out, you can’t go wrong any way.”
Hellebuyck, who currently leads the National Hockey League in wins with 16, participated in the World Cup back in 2016 with Team North America but didn’t see any action. However, he has played at the Worlds (in 2015 and 2017) and has a bronze medal from 2015, when he led the entire tournament in goals-against average (1.37) and save percentage (0.948).
“Getting to put the USA jersey on, that’s going to be a moment that I’ll remember and get to cherish,” said Hellebuyck. “I know I have a World Championships, but this feels a little bit different. This is a little closer to Olympic time and Olympic rosters. This is going to be fun. I’d imagine it will be a different style of hockey, maybe not, I could be wrong, but I’m excited to figure out what’s in front of me.”
As a goaltender, Hellebuyck vividly remembers Ryan Miller’s performance at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Even though Sidney Crosby’s overtime winner slipped past the American through the five-hole, Miller’s 1.35 goals-against average and 0.946 save percentage stood out to Hellebuyck.
“He played phenomenal that entire tournament,” Hellebuyck said. “A moment like that is so big, I’m hopefully going to have my own moment like that - hopefully winning it - but those little milestones are what I’m going to be able to tell stories to my kids when they grow up."
Hellebuyck learned he had made the American roster for the tournament after posting a 43-save performance in Minnesota against the Wild on November 25. It was also at that time he learned he’d have his teammate in Connor with him.
“I’m really excited to have a teammate there,” said Hellebuyck. “It’s going to be a really fun tournament.”
For Connor, this will be his first time representing his home country since the 2016 Worlds. That was when he was coming off his incredible freshman season at the University of Michigan, when he scored 35 goals and had 71 points in 38 games.
“Obviously, it's close knit group between a lot of those U.S. guys and know each other so I was just looking forward to obviously having a chance to play with those guys and being able to represent my country,” said Connor, who is equally excited that a lot of familiar Michigan faces will be on the roster – like Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes, and Dylan Larkin to name a few.
“It's going be awesome. We skate with those guys all summer,” said Connor. “To be able to get a chance to be in live competition and compete for something that's going to be really fun.”
Jets head coach Scott Arniel is happy for the trio, but also didn’t rule out a fourth member of the team possibly making it into the tournament – Mark Scheifele.
While the Jets forward wasn’t named to the initial Canadian roster, there are still two months to go until tournament time.
“I’ve had the conversation with (Canada general manager) Don (Sweeney) and I’ve had a conversation with Scheif. He’s right there on the bubble,” said Arniel. “Don’t know where everything is going to be in February. Again, with this schedule you’re starting to see bodies drop around the league. You never know where things may shake out. He’s disappointed but he’s going to go out and continue to play the way he plays. He wants to be that guy if there is an opportunity for him to get on the team.”
The tournament, which features four teams – Canada, USA, Finland, and Sweden – gets underway on February 12, 2025 and will be played in Montreal and Boston.
And the jokes are already starting to fly between Morrissey, Connor, and Hellebuyck.
“The other day, we were in a warm-up drill and KC put (the pass) a little too far in front of me,” Morrissey grinned. “So I can see the gamesmanship is happening already.”
