From friends to enemies at 4 Nations | SPECIAL FEATURE

For Bratt, this will be Bratt’s first opportunity to play true best-on-best men’s hockey, and it’s been a long time coming.

“This is something you’ve always dreamed of,” Bratt said from his home in New Jersey. “I remember watching the World Cup of Hockey after my draft and I remember just dreaming about being in that situation, playing best-on-best in a tournament. So I was obviously super, super excited. I feel very honored.” I put on the jersey and play a best-on-best tournament. I look forward to it.

Markstrom, who is in his first year with New Jersey, now knows firsthand what it’s like to be Bratt’s teammate and how valuable he is as a teammate. This is something that Team Sweden will benefit from, he says.

“He’s a perfect player for this type of tournament,” Markstrom said shortly after the NHL media availability announcement. “He comes to work; he leaves nothing to chance. He will make sure he will do everything he can to be ready and help Team Sweden be as successful as possible.”

“With Bratter, you get a different perspective on him as a player,” Markstrom added. “You played against him and you see the skill and what he does on the ice, and when you become teammates with the guy, you see what he does, how much work he puts in every day and what kind of person he is .” since he’s not on the ice either.

The goalkeeper pool for Sweden is large. Markstrom joins Minnesota’s Filip Gustavson and Ottawa’s Linus Ullmark as the Three Crowns’ three goaltenders. Sweden’s head coach Sam Hallman has a lot to choose from before the short tournament.

“Filip played incredible in Minnesota,” Markstrom said, assessing the trio. “And Ullmark is a world-class goalkeeper who won the Vezina a year ago (…) I think as goalkeepers our job is to push each other. Filip, Linus and I want to be in the net and play.” , but only Sam will have to make that difficult decision when it comes to the game, but that’s part of taking part in this best-on-best tournament. We’re here to push each other, it’s a short tournament, two games, and you want to win. We’re here to support the team and wear the Three Crowns proudly.”