Team Canada Top Defensemen Opens Up On The Difficult Decision To Miss The Four Nations Finale
Team Canada were without a top defenseman in Josh Morrissey when they took on the USA, and now the Winnipeg Jets star has revealed what he went through.
The Four Nations Face Off Finale was one of the biggest hockey games in history, but unfortunately moments before the game, Winnipeg Jets star and Calgary native Josh Morrissey was ruled out with illness, the same thing that forced Cale Makar to miss a game earlier in the tournament.
Thankfully for Morrissey and the entire country, Team Canada would prevail in dramatic overtime circumstances, but it hurt Morrissey not to be out there, as he revealed how badly he wanted to play that night.
Unlike Matthew Tkachuk and the United States however, No. 44 realized how he would have hindered the team rather than helped them had he taken the ice, and ultimately, it appears he made the right call.
Morrissey was replaced in the game by Thomas Harley, who had a fantastic game the first time around when he replaced Makar against the United States, but this isn't the last time we'll see Morrissey on the international stage.
At just 29-years of age, Morrissey is likely to represent Canada at the 2026 Olympic Games, and with the 2028 World Cup of Hockey on the way back alongside the 2030 Olympic Games, we'll be seeing Morrissey don the red maple leaf for years and years to come.
He would still claim a gold medal at this tournament after three fantastic performances leading into the finale, but hopefully he can get through the next tournament unscathed to play on the biggest level possible in a medal game in the best-on-best format.
![Feb 20, 2025; Boston, MA, USA; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team USA forward Brady Tkachuk (7) celebrates scoring against Team Canada during the first period during the 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey championship game at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images](https://i.marqueur.com/habsetlnh/medium/532257.webp "Feb 20, 2025; Boston, MA, USA; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team USA forward Brady Tkachuk (7) celebrates scoring against Team Canada during the first period during the 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey championship game at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images")
