Boston, Mass.- Nine Western Hockey League alumni helped Canada win the 4 Nations Face-Off in a dramatic 3-2 overtime win against the United States on Thursday night.
2024 Stanley Cup Champion Sam Reinhart (West Vancouver, B.C. / Kootenay ICE), who closes the tournament with a team-leading four assists, kicked off the scoring in front of a raucous crowd in Boston with an assist on QMJHL graduate and fellow NHL Champ Nathan MacKinnon’s game-opening goal.
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OHL legend Connor McDavid scored the game-winning goal 8:18 into the extra frame.
Nine former Western Leaguers were initially named to the roster, but Shea Theodore (Aldergrove, B.C. / Seattle Thunderbirds) was forced to miss the bulk of the tournament after sustaining an injury in Canada’s first match against Sweden.
Six different WHL graduates found the scoresheet throughout the tournament, but none more than Reinhart, who tied with Sidney Crosby (1G-3A) for most points on Canada and second among all NHLers.
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The Florida Panthers standout will add to his already impressive trophy case.
Reinhart was named WHL Rookie of the Year in 2012 and the WHL Most Sportsmanlike Player and Player of the Year in 2014.
He won a WHL Championship with the then-Kootenay ICE in 2011 and remains the all-time scoring leader for the Wenatchee Wild / ICE franchise with 319 points (120G-199A).
Former WHL Eastern Conference First Team All-Star member Brayden Point (Calgary, Alta. / Moose Jaw Warriors) picked up a goal and an assist at the best-on-best tournament and finished second among Canadian forwards in ice time in the title match with 21:23.
The career Moose Jaw Warrior piled up 324 points (134G-190A) over his impressive WHL career before going on to back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning, highlighted by the Championship-winning goal in 2020.
Mark Stone (Winnipeg, Man. / Brandon Wheat Kings) tallied once at the tournament to cap off a recent run of tremendous success.
Another former winner of the Brad Hornung Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s Most Sportsmanlike Player, Stone served as alternate captain of the Brandon Wheat Kings for two of his four seasons in the league, picking up 296 points (106G-190A).
22-year-old Seth Jarvis (Winnipeg, Man. / Portland Winterhawks) was named to the WHL Western Conference First All-Star Team (2019-20) and was named WHL Most Sportsmanlike Player in 2020.
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brandon Hagel (Morinville, Alta. / Red Deer Rebels) fought his way into the NHL after going unsigned by the Buffalo Sabres, the team that drafted him in 2016. Hagel ended up earning a contract with the Chicago Blackhawks and erupted at the junior level to close out his WHL career with 279 points (103G-176A).
Longtime Calgary Hitmen defenceman Travis Sanheim (Elkhorn, Man.) led all WHL defencemen in scoring with 65 points and was named to the WHL Eastern Conference First All-Star Team in 2014-15. He was also named a WHL Eastern Conference Second All-Star in 2015-16 and picked up one helper at 4 Nations.
2023 Stanley Cup Champion Shea Theodore also paced WHL blueliners in scoring with a 79-point run in 2013-14 and followed it up by winning the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy for WHL Defenceman of the Year.
Josh Morrissey (Calgary, Alta. / Kelowna Rockets), an alternate captain for the Winnipeg Jets, split his WHL career between the Prince Albert Raiders and Kelowna Rockets. He won a WHL Championship as a member of the Rockets in 2014. Over 249 career WHL games, the Calgarian registered 196 points (66G-130A). Morrissey was named WHL Scholastic Player of the Year in 2012-13 and was named to WHL All-Star teams twice. Morrissey was forced to miss the final with an illness.
Hill, a 28-year-old goaltender for the Vegas Golden Knights, appeared in 115 career WHL games with the Winterhawks, earning a record of 67-38-6-1 with a 2.86 goals-against average, .919 save percentage, and five shutouts.
Six of the nine WHL alumni named to Canada’s roster have previously represented Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship (Morrissey, Point, Reinhart, Sanheim, Stone, Theodore).
Canada’s Roster for 4 Nations Face-Off – WHL Alumni
| Last Name | First Name | Last WHL Team | Hometown | Ht | Wt | Pos |
| Reinhart | Sam | Kootenay ICE | West Vancouver, B.C. | 6’1” | 196 | F |
| Point | Brayden | Moose Jaw Warriors | Calgary, Alta. | 5’10” | 178 | F |
| Jarvis | Seth | Portland Winterhawks | Winnipeg, Man. | 5’10” | 184 | F |
| Hagel | Brandon | Red Deer Rebels | Morinville, Alta. | 6’2” | 180 | F |
| Stone | Mark | Brandon Wheat Kings | Winnipeg, Man. | 6’3” | 210 | F |
| Sanheim | Travis | Calgary Hitmen | Elkhorn, Man. | 6’4” | 222 | D |
| Theodore | Shea | Seattle Thunderbirds | Aldergrove, B.C. | 6’2” | 197 | D |
| Morrissey | Josh | Kelowna Rockets | Calgary, Alta. | 6’0” | 195 | D |
| Hill | Adin | Portland Winterhawks | Calgary, Alta. | 6’4” | 215 | G |
