John Tortorella Drove Back From 4 Nations Face-Off, Avoiding Heckling From Canadian Players

Philadelphia Flyers Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim played for Team Canada.

Tortorella served as an assistant coach for Team USA during the 4 Nations Face-Off. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Team USA lost a heartbreaker in overtime to Team Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off final last Thursday and apparently, Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella is taking the defeat pretty hard.

Torts (as he's more famously known) served as an assistant coach alongside Mike Sullivan on Team USA's staff throughout the tournment. After the final wrapped up at TD Garden, he opted to drive back from Boston—steering clear of a few Team Canada players along the way.

"I didn't charter back, I drove back," he shared on Monday with Philadelphia's local media when asked if any Flyers players from Team Canada rubbed in the win on the way home. "I was planning to drive back anyway, but when I knew a bunch of Canadians were gonna be on there, I was definitely driving back. So I left pretty early in the morning, and they took the charter."

Torts was still not over the #4Nations loss so even though he was going to drive anyways, it made his decision easier to not fly on the Flyers charter back to Philly with two Canadians, Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim 😂

(h/t @jackiespiegel93) pic.twitter.com/lqjCYwPkBs

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 24, 2025

Though he said it with a smile, it sounds like Torts did—in fact—take the five-hour drive from Boston to Philly. You can hear his answer at the 3:05 mark of the below video:

Flyers forward Travis Konecny and defenseman Travis Sanheim were among those who were a part of Team Canada's inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off tournament win. Unfortunately, they were unable to taunt their head coach on the way home.

Philly returns to the ice on Tuesday when they'll welcome the cross-state Pittsburgh Penguins to the Wells Fargo Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EST.

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