Vancouver Canucks coach John Tortorella certainly won’t win any fans in Canada with his decision to cheer for Team Sweden in Sunday’s gold medal game at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
With goaltender Roberto Luongo and defenseman Dan Hamhuis representing Canada and forwards Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and defenseman Alex Edler on Team Sweden, Tortorella could have pleaded the fifth when asked where his royalties lie in the big game, but of course he didn’t do that. In a not-so-shocking turn of events, Tortorella got a little heated when asked about Sunday’s game.
The Boston native launched into a rant about not having his players who aren’t seeing significant ice time in Sochi at Canucks practices, while explaining that a Sweden win would be better for his guys when they return to Vancouver.
“I hope Sweden wins because I don’t think Hammer (Dan Hamhuis) is going to play judging from what’s happened and I don’t think Louie (Roberto Luongo) is going to play,” Tortorella said, via the Vancouver Sun. “So I don’t give a (expletive) right now because they’re not playing. I just want them back here. I hope Danny (Sedin) scores two goals and (Alex) Edler gets three assists and Sweden wins so they come back feeling good about themselves because it’s going to help us. That’s all I’m concerned about right now.”