For the second time in his career, Calgary Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane will represent Team Canada in the IIHF World Championship. His first appearance on the team was back in 2021 in Latvia when he was named the tournament’s MVP as Canada picked up the gold medal.
This time around, he’s playing on a roster that looks mightily different.
In addition to Mangiapane playing for Canada, Flames forward Martin Pospisil will also be playing with Team Slovakia.
Looking back at Mangiapane’s first time with Team Canada
Mangiapane’s 2021 appearance has its place in Canadian international hockey lore. He made a huge splash on the international stage, joining a team that was struggling to win games at all. Upon joining, Canada had zero wins and three losses in the tournament. He turned things around playing with Adam Henrique and Connor Brown, and essentially Mangiapane singlehandedly willed the Canadians to gold with his speed and tenacity.
As mentioned, his performance earned him the MVP of the tournament. With Mangiapane on the team, Canada went from facing certain defeat to capturing one of the least likely gold medals in the tournament’s history for the country.
Mangiapane finished the tournament with seven goals and four assists in seven games.
A second coming for Mangiapane
This time, Mangiapane is a little older, his breakout 35-goal season is a couple of years behind him, and instead, he’s strung together back-to-back down seasons in the NHL. He’s joining a much younger Team Canada that will boast the likes of Connor Bedard and this year’s projected first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini.
He’ll also be playing with former teammates from the 2021 tournament in Owen Power and Michael Bunting. His former linemates are still in the NHL playoffs as both Henrique and Brown currently play for the Oilers.
The Canadian roster will have a wealth of skills where Mangiapane might not necessarily stand out as a game-breaking player, but he will have the opportunity to use his experience and be a leader in a room full of younger talent.
While it’s unlikely he will find himself in the conversation of being the tournament’s MVP—barring some miraculous elevation in his game among his peers—Mangiapane should be a visible player for Canada and can be trusted for their big-moment plays.
A long offseason for Calgary
The Calgary Flames have a long offseason ahead as the tournament is set to begin in a week’s time in Prague, Czechia, while the second round of the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs has yet to even begin. Playing for Team Canada might be the exact thing he needs to revamp his on-ice production for Calgary as Mangiapane heads into a contract year.
Remember, it was after his MVP performance that he came back to the NHL and put up his 35-goal season. Who knows, maybe history can repeat itself and Mangiapane will get the bounceback season that eluded him this season next season instead after he wins another gold medal with Canada.
