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Matthew Tkachuk of Team USA fights with Brandon Hagel of Team Canada. Photo: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
CHOOO CHOOOOO! Or whatever noise a Zamboni makes. All aboard my extremely and embarrassingly late 4 Nations Face-Off Team USA Hockey bandwagon!
Don’t be shy. Hop on up! My recently-rented, possibly stolen Zamboni is accepting all latecomers before Thursday night’s rowdy championship final against our icy northern nemesis, Canada.
Grab a cold one brewed in the Lower 48 and settle in for a furious battle!
What’s that? You have zero idea what the 4 Nations Face-Off is? That’s OK! I had zero idea, either, until about 72 hours ago!
That’s until I saw the first 10 seconds of the first Team USA versus Canada game, Saturday night, up in Montreal.
Correction: The first nine seconds. In which there were—count ‘em—three separate fights between U.S. and Canada players. I went to state college, but I believe that averages out to one fight per three seconds.
Wild doesn’t do the scene justice. I hadn’t seen fists flying like that in ages, and I’ve walked through the parking lot after Giants and Jets games. Social media melted with social media’s preferred emotion: gawking bloodlust.
I’d been wasting my time watching the comatose NBA All-Star Weekend, where not even the players can be bothered to care, and they’ve had to enlist a minor league ringer to enliven the Slam Dunk contest.
These hockey stars, meanwhile, were dropping gloves and slugging it out like the Hanson Brothers from “Slap Shot.”
The 4 Nations Face-Off is the NHL’s all-star innovation, and it’s a doozy: four national teams of top players representing the hockey hubs of Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States. (Russia, barred from international competition by the International Ice Hockey Federation since the invasion of Ukraine, isn’t represented.)
The round robin tournament concludes Thursday in Boston with the border-crossing title rematch everyone’s craving.
Journal readers know they are more likely to find a T-Rex eating Cheerios in their kitchen than a hockey insight in this column. But even a rink casual like me knows: This final will be the good stuff.
Team USA versus Canada’s “best on best” is historically a hockey treat—Canada playing the part of the medal-hoarding goliath, USA the prideful contender, tired of disrespect.
Turns out it’s spicy even as an exhibition, especially when you sprinkle on the recent political tensions between the U.S. and its upstairs neighbor.
Brady Tkachuk of Team USA fights Sam Bennett of Team Canada. Photo: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
If you haven’t heard: They’re booing the U.S. national anthem up there. Fans did it shortly before Saturday’s game turned into a saloon. Team Canada’s captain Sidney Crosby doesn’t sound thrilled for the discussion: “We respect the anthems. I’ll leave it at that.”
The whole vibe has turned the ambivalence of the modern all-star weekend on its ear. I’d given up expecting anything from these celebrations. They’re for 11-year-olds, I figured.
But 4 Nations is highflying madness. Forget the brawling: The games have featured the sort of aggression and board-rattling contact you usually don’t get until the playoffs. And these are well-compensated men who know each other; you have Team USA stars who play for Canadian NHL teams and plenty of Canadian stars situated on U.S. teams. In some cases, you have NHL teammates on opposite sides. Doesn’t matter.
Surely some franchise bosses are cringing: What happens if somebody gets hurt? But the competitive intensity has been undeniable.
Saturday’s dust-up was planned—on a Team USA group chat, no less. The first fight featured American player Matthew Tkachuk. The second pitted Matthew’s brother, Brady (Ottawa Senators), against one of Matthew’s Florida Panthers teammates. When Brady joined his brother in the penalty box, they exchanged a sibling high-five. Fellow American J.T. Miller completed the trilogy a few seconds later. Team USA wound up winning 3-1.
“We’re in a hostile environment,” Matthew Tkachuk said later. “We wanted to show that we’re not backing down.”
J.T. Miller of Team USA and Colton Parayko of Team Canada tussle during the first period. Photo: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
I’ll confess: The fighting makes me feel like a hypocrite. Every time I see hockey players raise fists I think: Are we really still doing this? And yet the NHL can’t quit it, neither can players and fans, and here I am, writing about it, like I’m Bert Sugar with a cigar inside the MGM Grand.
Of course, there’s an actual hockey game to be played. Team USA is installed as a slight favorite, but Canada appears to have gotten some of its mojo back after a 5-3 victory over Finland. Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche scored two goals. Penguins legend Crosby and Edmonton superstar Connor McDavid each had a goal and an assist.
Team USA meanwhile, has been getting it done with opportunistic scoring and brilliant defense anchored by big man goalie Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg). Defenseman Zach Werenski (Columbus) leads the young American squad with five assists.
Boston will be rocking. It’s not a quiet hockey town. It’s not a quiet anything town.
“I’m expecting the best environment I’ve ever played in,” Matthew Tkachuk said.
For context: Tkachuk’s Panthers won the Stanley Cup last year. At home, in a Game 7. And he thinks the 4 Nations Face-Off final is going to be the craziest atmosphere he’s ever played in.
He might be right. Consider yourself invited. Still time to hop on board my bandwagon…Zamboni.
