Ty Nelson finished with one shot on goal and six minutes and 46 seconds of ice time in his World Junior Hockey Championship debut as Team Canada defeated Finland 5-2 on the opening day of the tournament taking place in Gothenburg, Sweden.
"Obviously any time you get to represent the crest it is an honour and obviously, I am super grateful to be here and excited and pumped for today," Nelson told TSN's Mark Masters prior to Tuesday's contest.
But the North Bay Battalion star defender's journey to the tournament was a very hectic one.
See related: Battalion's Nelson a late addition to Team Canada
Nelson, who was cut by Team Canada on Dec. 13, was a late addition to the team due to a pair of injuries by rostered defencemen Tanner Molendyk and Tristan Luneau.
In fact, the Toronto native was on a family vacation in Pittsburgh when he got the call from Team Canada on Saturday.
Nelson told TSN he was at a Penguins game and was heading over to catch the Steelers versus Bengals NFL game when he got the news.
"We packed up the car and (were) on the road to Toronto within 20, 30 minutes," Nelson told TSN.
"It was a whirlwind day."
Due to the holiday travel mayhem, Nelson did not fly out of Toronto until 4 p.m. on Sunday and eventually arrived in Gothenburg around 3 p.m. on Monday.
Like many times flying during the holiday season, Nelson had a delay with his connecting flight. Then Mother Nature added a scare to Nelson's journey as high winds made for a tricky landing.
"We landed, but then had to go right back into the air," Nelson told TSN.
"It was a pretty scary day, not going to lie. Then we were in Stockholm for about an hour and a half. Luckily, we were able to land in Gothenburg when we flew back. It was about a 45-minute flight so not too bad."
That delay did not allow Nelson to practice with Team Canada on Christmas Day which meant he dressed for Team Canada without practicing with his new team.
Team Canada's upcoming schedule can be found at hockeycanada.ca.
