Patriotism: John Tortorella refused to fly home with Team Canada after 4 Nations loss, drove back to Philly instead

John Tortorella made the right call. Period.

After Team USA fell to Team Canada in heartbreaking overtime fashion during last week’s 4 Nations Face-Off, Flyers head coach John Tortorella wasn’t in any mood to spend a few miserable hours in the sky surrounded by smug Canadians.

Instead, he chose to hop in a car and make the drive from Boston to Philly himself.

John Tortorella on driving back to Philly – (3:05 mark of the below video)

Patriotism: John Tortorella refused to fly home with Team Canada after 4 Nations loss, drove back to Philly instead

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

Smart move. Anytime you can avoid unnecessary interactions with Canadian peasants after losing a gold-medal game, you absolutely should.

Yeah, look, I get it—some of the crew here might not be huge fans of Torts. I understand why Flyers fans occasionally call him a hockey terrorist for how he’s handled some lineup decisions in Philly.

But let’s put those things aside for one second and focus purely on the red, white, and blue. This isn’t Flyers hockey we’re talking about—it’s America vs Canada. In that situation, Torts is a patriot.

The 4 Nations Face-Off was awesome. It was good hockey, it was good drama, and Canada-USA is a rivalry that deserves all the hype it gets. Losing in OT like that absolutely sucks, so why put yourself through the added misery of sharing a plane with a bunch of maple-syrup-chugging winners rubbing it in your face? I’d drive, too.

That said, I do have a quick follow-up for Torts: What exactly did you drive home? Did he hop on the Enterprise app and grab a mid-size sedan rental with extra legroom? Did he have his own car already there in Boston? Uber XL for the win? These are questions we need answered, because the logistics here are fascinating.

And listen, driving Boston to Philly isn’t some insane trek—it’s roughly the same as driving across the state to Pittsburgh. About five hours or so. That’s easy enough, even after a tough loss.

But again, the point isn’t the distance—it’s the principle. Avoiding any unnecessary interactions with Canada’s hockey elite (or peasants, depending on perspective) after a gut-punch loss isn’t just smart, it’s damn near patriotic.

Good call, Torts.

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