4 Nations Face-Off blog: Mikael Granlund 

Mikael Granlund of Finland will keep a blog throughout the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20.

In his first entry, the Dallas Stars forward writes about the building excitement for Finland’s opening game against the United States at Bell Centre in Montreal on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS), running into Finnish hockey legend Teemu Selanne during the tournament’s media day on Tuesday and the whirlwind few days that saw him get traded from the San Jose Sharks to the Stars and then report for national team duty.

Practice was really good for our first one with the entire team, and we are getting all the other stuff done like team photos and media stuff. It’s been a long day, but a fun day.

There is a lot of skill on our team. I’m just really excited as a Finn to be playing for Finland. It makes me happy. I find myself smiling all the time. It’s really hard to explain, but it’s important to be on this team and I’m really glad that I can be here.

In a way, it’s easy for us because we all know one another on this team. We have all played together with the national team at some point and we have some chemistry, we know the system we play. When we come to tournaments like this, there are no egos here. Everything and everybody is for the team, no matter what your role is. Everybody is playing for each other. It’s tough to describe, but we all want to succeed. Hockey is big in Finland and this is an important thing.

It was great to see Teemu Selanne today here. That’s what I mean, though, its all about Finland. He comes here to support us. It’s nice to be around your countrymen. You can catch up and have a laugh. It’s nice. It’s hard to explain, but it’s great.

Teemu was my guy growing up. I wanted to play like him and I was lucky enough to get to play with him during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. I played on his line. It was one of the highlights of my career. We won the bronze medal.

He’s such a good guy. I’ve never heard a bad word about Teemu, that’s the kind of guy he is. He makes everyone feel good.

That tournament was so important to me as a young player. It showed me that I could be a good player. I played with and against the best players in the world and I fit in and I recognized I could be a good player in the NHL.

For this tournament, I have so much more experience, there is nothing that surprises me anymore. Now, I can help some of the other guys with being in the types of situations and in these experiences.

That’s the life of a hockey player; to grow like that and to pass things on to other players.
For me, this has all come so fast. I got traded to Dallas (on Feb. 1), I barely settled in and now I am here. But, that’s all part of being a hockey player.

It’s nice in Dallas that I know some people and we have a chance to win. There’s a couple of Finns on that team of course, which is nice, and I have played with other players in the past. I know Matt Duchene and Matt Dumba. All of that helps.

But for now, I’m concentrating on this tournament. We have one more day of practice before we play the United States.

We think we have a chance. Obviously, there are four really good teams here. We are a good team and we think we have the chance to do something special.