As Connor McDavid’s uncontested wrist shot from the slot flew past goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, every red-blooded American simultaneously reached for the remote, disheartened and defeated.
The NHL’s decision to hold a national tournament instead of the All-Star game was a wise and successful move. Harboring the fandom of entire nations worked marvelously, as shown by the TV ratings for 4 Nations. The tournament also served as a mini-preview for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, which will take place next February in Milan and will include NHL players for the first time since 2014. It will be a very anticipated return of truly the best in the world competing for the gold medal.
Canada proved themselves to once again best the U.S. in a title game, rebounding from the 3-1 loss in their first meeting and continuing their reign as a dominating hockey force in international play. Sidney Crosby once again carried a trophy while representing the maple leaf, serving as captain of team Canada, which only adds to his legendary career hardware. He’ll certainly serve as the captain once again during the Olympics, where he’ll be aiming for his third gold medal.
The Tkachuk brothers stole the stage for America in this tournament, proving themselves as the ultimate warriors for their country. Brady and Matthew Tkachuk played with an intent to out-tough their opponents, as seen with many violent hits throughout the tournament and both dropping the gloves in the first game against Canada. It was an excellent tournament for the United States until they left the best player in the world wide open to end their dreams of conquering the Canadians at their own sport. Fortunately, they’ll get another opportunity to redeem themselves on the world stage in the Winter Olympics next year.
Sweden and Finland may not have made it to the final round, but they dueled in an epic rivalry overtime game that ended with a Finnish victory. They both play a different style of hockey compared to the U.S. and Canada, relying more on the element of team defense and opportunistic fundamental hockey. The Fins only notched two points in three games; meanwhile, the Swedes had five, tying with Canada. However, the brutal overtime loss to Canada in the opening round pushed them out of the championship as the tiebreaker.
Not only was it an awesome watch for die-hard NHL fans, but it also attracted people who aren’t frequent viewers of the sport. Those viewers are very important for growing the game across the country because the NHL usually has the lowest live game viewership among the sports leagues in the United States. So, rallying the whole nation behind the rivalry against Canada is a surefire way to garner support for hockey.
“The championship game of the best-on-best international tournament between the United States and Canada on Thursday was watched by 16.1 million viewers in North America, with 9.3 million viewers in the United States and 6.3 million in Canada,” according to statistics from the NHL.
Best-on-best hockey proved itself to draw mass amounts of spectators, and the extra layer of geo-political patriotism fueled an incredible atmosphere in both the Bell Centre in Montreal and Boston’s TD Garden when Canada and U.S. squared off. Even through the loss to Canada, nothing will quite bring out support from the American people more than an opportunity to prove dominance over another nation, especially in sports.
