Calgary Flames’ Martin Pospisil impresses at the IIHF World Championship

All eyes of the NHL world may be on the thrilling Stanley Cup Playoffs right now, but away from the world of the NHL, there’s some great hockey going on in the 2024 IIHF World Championships. There may not be much representation for the Calgary Flames, but in incredibly positive news, one of the teams rising stars has put on an electric performance.

Despite playing as a winger, primarily alongside Connor Zary and Nazem Kadri in his rookie campaign, Martin Pospisil took to the ice for Team Slovakia in a different role, playing down the middle on the international stage. Through two games, Slovakia are 1-1 with a loss to Germany and a victory over Kazakhstan, but it’s Pospisil who has led the way alongside fellow NHLers Simon Nemec, Tomas Tatar and Juraj Slafkovsky.

In game one, Pospisil impressed with an assist, but it was the game two victory that saw him explode onto the scene, as he gave Slovakia an early 1-0 lead with this tough rebound in front of the net.

Pospisil truly would turn this game into a Marty Party, as he finished another one later in the game as Slovakia cruised to a 6-2 victory.

After an impressive tournament thus far, Pospisil was awarded player of the game in the big 6-2 win, establishing himself as a genuine threat on the international stage, even if the competition wasn’t the highest.

The success didn’t stop there however, as Slovakia caused a major 5-4 upset over Team USA in overtime, with Pospisil playing an incredible role in the game. Not only did he continue his stellar play down the middle, but he added three assists for the game, taking his tournament tally to two goals and four assists in three games. Of those three assists, one came on the overtime winner, taking Pospisil to a +3 on the night as they improve to 2-1 on the tournament.

Team Slovakia still have matchups with Poland, France and Sweden to go, but given the way Pospisil, alongside Nemec have played, it’s safe to say they now believe they can win any game they play in this tournament.

The most interesting aspect of all this is his position, playing centre on the international stage, with GM Craig Conroy already revealing that both he and Zary have expressed an interest in playing down the middle in the NHL. It’s more likely that Zary could get that role moving forward for Calgary, but if Martin continues his impressive play, he will have a great chance to establish himself as a key piece of the Flames lineup moving forward.