It wasn’t much of a surprise, but Michael Raffl was still excited to hear he’d been named to Team Austria for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
“It’s nice,” he said, per the Flyers website. “The coach (Manny Viveiros) called me last week and told me ‘You’re going to be on the team,’ It’s exciting, It’s something I’m looking forward to.”
Raffl, who rose to prominence playing alongside Thomas Vanek at the World Championships last spring, said he figured he’d be in the mix for the ’14 Winter Games, but added “you never know until you are told.”
The 25-year-old has been a revelation for the Flyers this season. He has 11 points in 27 games since his recall from AHL Adirondack, occasionally drawing top-line duty while averaging nearly 14 minutes per game.
Austria doesn’t have a lot of NHL firepower on its roster, but does feature a few intriguing names -- Raffl, Vanek and Michael Grabner, most notably.
