4 Nations Face-Off blog: Travis Sanheim

Canada defenseman 'fired up' to play U.S. in rematch for championship

Travis Sanheim of Canada will keep a blog throughout the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20.

In his fourth entry, the Philadelphia Flyers defenseman writes about the championship game of the tournament, a rematch against the United States at TD Garden on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; Disney+, ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS) and how he and the team are preparing to try to avenge a 3-1 loss in Montreal on Feb. 15. He also talks about his growing familiarity with defense partner Drew Doughty and friendship with Flyers and Canada teammate, Travis Konecny.

We're so fired up, excited to get things going. We have the rematch that we want. Obviously, having the two days in between games delays it a little bit, but we are going to be ready to go and I am looking forward to it.

With the two days off, the rest is the biggest thing with guys recovering and making sure they are 100 percent ready to go for the championship game. As for the mental side, I think the guys in here are pretty good at getting away and not worrying about it too much. When the time is right, we will be ready to go.

For me, when I want to get away, I have family in town, so I go see them and hang out. I have most of my family here, my wife, my parents, my twin brother and two older sisters. We did dinner after the game Monday. A big crew but well worth it, obviously. Excited to have them here to support me. It means a lot. I also hang out with teammates, try to do stuff that kills the time a little bit.

Sometimes I watch shows and if I am into a show, I'm pretty committed to it. I am big on the Taylor Sheridan shows right now, "Landman," "Lioness," "Mayor of Kingstown," but I've kind of finished all those. I'm looking for options now.

Tomorrow is such a big day. We'll have morning skate and then I'll take a nap. A couple of years ago, I may not have been able to nap, but I think I will tomorrow. I'm in a good state mentally. The game will be the game. You prepare your whole life for moments like this and you just go out and play. You can't worry about too much, so I'll try to get my nap as well as I can and then focus on the game.

We've watched video and talked about what we need to do and have prepared as best we can. In saying that, a lot of us here, because of how we react and how make things up on the fly and how we go out and play hockey and can adjust on the fly, it'll be much of the same tomorrow night. We know it's going to be a battle, and we'll go out and put our best foot forward.

Drew and I have felt really good together. I think our gaps have been really good, haven't given up too much. I think our game has been pretty solid. We've had some looks offensively and I thought we have played some solid minutes.

It's great having (Konecny) here and going through this with him. We talk daily, text daily, call. It's just to help each other out, whether it's meeting times, what's going on, what's going through his head, what's going through my head, having the ability to talk to each other on the ice, on the bench. He's a guy to lean on. It makes it a lot easier and makes you feel a lot more comfortable. I'm really fortunate to have a teammate like him and the ability to come to an event like this.

It was really important early on that you get to know other people on the team. Our group is really good. It hasn't taken too long. Obviously, the first couple of days it's a bunch of new faces and building new relationships, but as the tournament has gone on, there has been a lot more joking and just having fun with each other, just like you would with your club team.

I haven't really thought about the legacy of what we are doing here. When you are in it, you don't think about that, you just go out and play. For us, it's just another hockey game. I think once we get away from here, we'll look back and understand how big a moment it is. I think it's a credit to the players and how we have come in and performed and battled, and how all the teams have competed. It's provided a lot of entertainment and people are tuning in for it. It's a credit to the players and we are looking forward to what's going to happen Thursday.

I know almost half of Canada watched the game against the States on Saturday. That goes to show the country and the support we have back home, how much they love hockey. It's a credit too to the guys in this locker room, going out and performing and producing something that people want to watch.