Brock Faber's 4 Nations diary: Inside the Wild defenseman's first days in Montreal with Team USA

New York Times

11-02-2025

Throughout the 4 Nations Face-Off, Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber will give readers of The Athletic an inside look at Team USA. The national team's youngest player at 22 years old, Faber is in his second full NHL season and was the Calder Trophy runner-up in 2024.
Here's his first diary entry, edited for clarity and length, as told to senior writer Michael Russo.
MONTREAL — It's been a fun time already in Montreal. You almost have to pinch yourself that you get to be part of this collection of great Team USA players.
It really hit home last night at the team dinner, looking around the table. Billy Guerin and Team USA invited Mike Modano, Mike Eruzione, Rob McClanahan and Guy Gaudreau.
Advertisement
It's a special group of people. People who came before you. Important figures in USA Hockey. And obviously, having Guy there was special with everything Johnny and Matthew did for USA Hockey. It really puts in perspective how much this tournament means to so many people.
We have Johnny's USA jersey hanging in our locker room, so he's in our minds all the time, and it was so special that his dad was on the ice for the team picture Tuesday and helped coach us in practice.
Guy Gaudreau was on the ice for the USA's practice ❤️ #4Nations pic.twitter.com/yYXH66Lkxc
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 11, 2025
Wearing that jersey, we obviously represent the United States but we represent those two, as well. We will work as hard as we can to try to bring this thing home for them, but regardless of win, lose or tie, we're going to give it everything we've got for the Gaudreau family.
We get to see Modano a lot in Minnesota because he's around the Wild, and that's always fun. But to have Eruzione and McClanahan at dinner was an honor. Eruzione was buzzing around talking to everybody. I had never met him before, so that was cool. Obviously we all know who that is. We've all seen 'Miracle' 1,000 times.
The people who came before you, it's special, and it reminds you that people paved the way for us.
Legends in the house!
The U.S. Men's National Team had dinner with hockey greats—1980 Olympic gold medalists Mike Eruzione & Rob McLanahan, American icon Mike Modano, & Guy Gaudreau, father of Johnny & Matthew.
Team USA opens the #4Nations Face-Off vs. Finland on Thursday! pic.twitter.com/SwXxf3GYPr
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 11, 2025
We're really looking forward to getting started. This is check-your-ego-at-the-door time. It's a quick tournament. A lot of guys are going to be playing different roles than they're used to. Some players who are go-to guys on their NHL teams are on the fourth line or even scratched here. But I think we have such a good group that it accepts that and understands the importance of whatever role you're put in. Doing that to the best of your ability is key.
Advertisement
It feels like we've been here a while now and we still have one more practice and a couple more dinners before we play Finland.
It's going to be a tough matchup.
I got here Sunday. I was on a flight from Minnesota with Bolds (Matt Boldy), Guerin, John Hynes and Brock Nelson, because we played the Islanders in the last game before the break and the snowstorm kept them from leaving, so Brock came on our plane instead of flying back to New York.
We arrived, got a ride to the hotel, checked in, had lunch and hung out. A lot of the guys started to show up later, toward the Super Bowl, and we all had a room and watched with food. The whole team was in there for the most part. That was cool, to hang out, though it was not a very fun Super Bowl to watch.
There were some side bets here and there, but more so we were just watching the game and getting to know each other.
Then we had our first meeting with Billy and Mike Sullivan on Monday morning.
It was quick, just at breakfast. The message from Billy was everyone deserves to be here, it's an incredible opportunity, we should enjoy it and compete and we're obviously here to win. That's what he ended with: We're here to win.
Bolds and Fabes have hit the ice with Team USA 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/JM38FRVH0a
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) February 10, 2025
Then Sully talked for a little bit just about systems and how we're going to touch on them each day and grow more and more into them.
We've already had some intense practices. Lots of five-on-five work, and today we started special teams.
There's a lot, right? It's a brand-new team. Everyone's familiar with a system like this. It's just making sure everyone's on the right page, because that's huge going into a tournament like this. The best systematic team and the best-meshed team with its chemistry is going to have a great opportunity to win it all.
Advertisement
Sucks that Quinn Hughes can't play. He's a friend of mine. We played at 17, 18 together. It's a big loss. But I've played with Jake Sanderson before, especially in the Olympics. He's a great defenseman and I'm really excited he's gotten this honor. Sandy will be up to the task if he gets the chance.
USA picture time pic.twitter.com/0pZvx97laW
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 11, 2025
I'm starting out paired with Noah Hanifin. He's an incredible player, an incredible skater. I feel like with all these guys, it's so easy to mesh with any line or defenseman because everyone's so skilled and everyone communicates so well and skates so well. I feel like we're going to mesh well if that's how the D pairs stand. If they change, any one of those guys would be incredible to play with.
So I'm excited. Every team is here to win. But we all know what we want to come out of this, and that's to be champions.
It's going to be intense. It's going to be fast-paced practices, and then once the games start, there's not much time to practice. It's every other day pretty much for the rest of the tournament, so these practices are very important.
Every team's deep. It's a matter of heart and sacrifice and effort so we can be champs.
And I can't wait to play these two games in Montreal. The crowds here are always great. I've played here twice now. Having Flower (Marc-Andre Fleury) on the Wild helps, but the atmosphere is going to be wild even though we are definitely going to hear it from them. This will be the first time I really play in an environment like this just because World Juniors and the Olympics were limited for fans because of COVID-19.
So it will definitely be a lot of fun. It's a huge honor for me and my family to represent our country on a big stage like this.
Talk to you next time.
Brock Faber holding court pic.twitter.com/gRHidxShnL
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 10, 2025
(Top photos of Brock Faber and Brady Tkachuk: Andre Ringuette / Getty Images and Michael Russo / The Athletic)