Ty Nelson finished with one shot on goal, and finished with 6:46 in time on the ice earlier today 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.
Nelson, who was cut by Team Canada on Dec. 13, was a late addition to the team due to a pair of injuries by defencemen Tanner Molendyk and Tristan Luneau who were unable play in the tournament due to injury.
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 vs Bengals NFL game when he got the news.
"We packed up the car and was 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, Sweden 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 did kept them from landing in Gothenburg.
"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 practise with Team Canada on Christmas Day which meant he dressed for Team Canada without practising with his new team.
Nelson, the 19-year-old Kraken prospect, had recorded 12 goals and 19 assists over 28 games so far this season with the Battalion.
Team Canada is back on the ice on Wednesday, Dec. 27 when they take on Latvia. That game starts at 1:30 p.m. ET.
