MONTREAL鈥擜t first, the 4 Nations Face-Off seemed like an amped up all-star game when it was first announced. Then players put their national jerseys on and felt that pride, and things got political, with fans booing anthems.
Now, it seems personal after a big, heavy, angry group of American hockey players, led by the glove-dropping Tkachuk brothers, took the game to Canada and emerged with a 3-1 win Saturday night.
“We needed to send a message,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “We’re here in Montreal on a Saturday night. We want it to be our time, and that message started right from the get-go.”
Saturday’s game, which had all the intensity of a playoff game, if not more so, will probably be remembered for its first nine seconds.
“Mayhem,” Canada coach Jon Cooper said.
The fans booed. Of course they booed, even though they were asked not to. They booed Auston Matthews, because they always do at the Bell Centre. They booed the American team at every turn. But, boy, did they ever boo “The Star-Spangled Banner.” All the way through the one minute and 26 seconds of it.
The Americans defeated Canada 3-1 at the 4 Nations Face-Off to snap a Canadian win streak that dated back to 2010. That was only part of the story.
The Americans defeated Canada 3-1 at the 4 Nations Face-Off to snap a Canadian win streak that dated back to 2010. That was only part of the story.
They cheered, too. They loved it when mixed martial arts fighter Georges St-Pierre was introduced. He introduced Team Canada. They chanted 鈥淐rosby鈥 for you know who. They even cheered Brad Marchand. They sang “O Canada” with the anthem singer they had just booed, Warrant Officer David Grenon with the Royal Canadian Air Force. It was a hearty rendition.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in the crowd.
Yes, it felt like the Bell Centre was at the nexus of Canada-U.S. relations.
Then they dropped the puck, and the relationship worsened. Two seconds in, Brandon Hagel and Matthew Tkachuk went blow for blow. The crowd loved it. One second after that, Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett went after each other.
Six seconds after that聽鈥 enough time for one zone entry and one American shot聽鈥 Colton Parayko and J.T. Miller exchanged blows in front of Jordan Binnington.
“A couple of nights ago and I sat up here and if you were gonna tell me something was going to top (the tournament’s opening ceremony), I would not have believed you,” Cooper said. “But that topped it. You know why it topped it? Because it wasn’t planned. That wasn’t two coaches throwing guys over saying this is happening. None of that happened. That was as organic as it gets. And it was probably I guess 10 years of no international hockey exhaled in a minute and a half.”
Cooper was only half right. Neither coach knew what was coming, but the Tkachuk brothers did, coming up with the idea in a group chat with Miller. It had nothing to do with anthems. It was their way of venting against Canada’s dominance as a hockey power.
“It’s more that they’ve had a ton of success over the last bunch of years, and for us to have this opportunity to play them in Canada, this is as big of a game as it gets,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “And a chance to knock off Canada in Canada on a Saturday night in Montreal in that type of environment, it was incredible. It was fun to start like that. It’s just a group of guys that are fired up to play their biggest rivals in this type of environment, so we had an absolute blast from the start.”
In Canada’s history of international hockey, there have been few games with as much acrimony. The 1972 Summit Series had it. And some of its alumni, including Paul Henderson and Ken Dryden, were in the crowd.
There was the Punch-up in Piestany, when a bench-clearing brawl resulted in Canada and the Soviet Union disqualified from the 1987 world junior championship. And the 1976 Flyers-Red Army game when the Soviet team threatened to leave midgame to protest Philadelphia’s physicality.
You might call them hockey’s heritage moments.
Add this one to it.
“It was fast, tight-checking, competitive, emotional,” said Canada’s lone goal-scorer, Connor McDavid. “It had everything you would want in a hockey game. It sucks it didn鈥檛 go our way, but this thing鈥檚 far from over.”
With Cale Makar out due to illness, replaced on an emergency basis by Thomas Harley, and a perceived chasm in goaltending, it was left for Canada’s generational forwards to make a difference. But McDavid was the only one to break through while Jake Guentzel had two goals for the U.S., including an empty-netter. Dylan Larkin scored the winner in the second period in what felt like a Stanley Cup playoff game.
鈥淚t鈥檚 close, if not right there with it,” McDavid said. “The emotions, the fans, obviously the energy in the building, the rivalry. It was special to be a part of. Fun night.鈥
Both teams hope for a rematch Thursday. The Americans head home to Boston for the final stages of the tournament with the satisfaction of having beaten Canada in front of a hostile, anthem-booing crowd while establishing themselves as the clear favourites. They’ve clinched their spot in the final, with a game Monday night against Sweden remaining.
Canada needs to beat Finland in regulation on Monday to be assured of advancing. A loss of any sort will eliminate the Canadians. And a win in overtime will leave Canada counting on Sweden not getting all three points聽鈥 a regulation win聽鈥 against the Americans. Canada holds the tiebreak over Sweden in case both end up with four or five points.
“It鈥檚 kind of like a Game 7,” McDavid said. “A lot of guys in this room have been in that situation before. Gotta get a win.鈥
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