Hockey in its purest form: 4 Nations brought best out of best - and Canada
Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby was the first to hoist the 4 Nations Face-Off trophy, and he did so emphatically late Thursday night inside TD Garden. The oldest player in an adrenaline rush of a nine-day midseason event let out a roar before handing the silver prize to veterans Brad Marchand and Drew Doughty.
Prime-time superstars Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid were next.
McDavid, scorer of the golden goal in a thrilling, tight-as-they-make-'em 3-2 overtime victory over the United States, stopped short of lifting the trophy above his head. The muted celebration looked awkward, borderline ridiculous for a generational talent who'd long been clamoring for best-on-best hockey.
Yet it was wholly appropriate. McDavid wants the first giant NHL trophy he raises to be the Stanley Cup. Plus, the one-off tournament split between Montreal and Boston became centered around more substantive things. Real things.
Unexpectedly epic games and amped-up patriotism - not a random trophy.
"I just hope Canada's proud because every player in that room is proud to be a Canadian. And yeah, we needed a win. Not only our team, but Canada needed a win," head coach Jon Cooper said in his postgame press conference, sounding relieved. "The players bared that on their shoulders.
"This one was different. This wasn't a win for themselves. This was a win for 40-plus-million people, and the guys knew it, and they delivered."
That's right: This tournament became personal for Canada. The Americans didn't just beat them 3-1 in a round-robin meeting. They poked the bear. The U.S. initiated three fights in the first nine seconds. Two American bash brothers, Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, talked confidently about dethroning Canada. "It's our time right now," Matthew said.
It became personal because Team USA general manager Bill Guerin invited Canada's chief antagonist, Donald Trump, to the championship game. It became personal because the U.S. president talked about making Canada the "51st state" on a phone call Thursday morning with the entirety of the U.S. squad.
Team Canada didn't get distracted by the political tension or sporting-world buzz south of the border. With 15 Cup winners on the roster, and three of the five best players on the planet in McDavid, MacKinnon, and Cale Makar, it knew on-ice results would be all that mattered in the end, and that aiming to be the last team standing would require its undivided attention.
"We're out there playing for the flag, not the cameras," winger Brandon Hagel famously said of accepting Matthew Tkachuk's invitation to fight last week.
Cooper mentioned the "Canadian way" Thursday night and other times in the tournament. That phrase captures everything from unselfish play on the ice to "walking into a restaurant and opening the door for somebody to walk in first."
Like the rest of the tournament, the championship game was hockey in its purest form. Break-neck pace. Fierce intensity. Functional physicality. Intentional defending. Finesse. Big-time saves. The type of high-performing environment in which the smallest mistake leads to a goal.
It was, without exaggeration, some of the best hockey we've ever seen.
The atmosphere once again was electric. Chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!", "John-ny Hock-ey! John-ny Hock-ey!", and "JOOORRDAAN" provided the soundtrack. Jordan is, of course, the villainous Jordan Binnington - Canada's goalie who won Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup at TD Garden. He was sensational, especially in a frenzied OT, stopping 31 total shots while turning aside a conga line of chirps and bumps designed to get under his skin.
The starting goalie job for the 2026 Olympics is officially Binnington's to lose. He's proven himself to be one of the true clutch netminders of this era.
"Binner's a winner," Doughty said prior to the tournament.
"I don't think I have enough words, to be honest with you," Crosby told reporters after the win. "He was incredible. So much poise."
Mitch Marner assumed the role of Jarome Iginla on the winner. He assisted on that stamp-worthy, legacy-enhancing McDavid tally like "Iggy" did for Crosby at the 2010 Olympics. The Maple Leafs winger, loser of three Game 7s in Boston, was a difference-maker Thursday, also setting up the game-tying goal and nearly connecting with McDavid for a back-door tap-in late in regulation.
Crosby and McDavid tied for the team lead with five points. MacKinnon, with four goals in four games, was named tournament MVP. Other 4 Nations standouts for Canada included the fearless Hagel, the clutch Sam Bennett (who was scratched in the first game), slick substitute defenseman Thomas Harley, speed-demon center Brayden Point, and USA forecheck dismantler Makar.
"You become the best version of yourself in these tournaments," Marchand said earlier in the week. For him, that meant being Canada's top spokesman.
Heading into Thursday's showdown, the Canada-USA matchup could be boiled down to these 15 words: Canada had history, experience, and star power, and the U.S. had swagger, grit, and goaltending. It was a coin flip. In this particular game, Canada won. In the next, the U.S. might be victorious.
While both teams were dealing with absences, the USA's blows were significant - Charlie McAvoy didn't dress due to a shoulder injury, and Matthew Tkachuk logged only 6:47 due to a lower-body injury. Still, the Americans battled and received stud performances from the likes of Auston Matthews (two primary assists), Brady Tkachuk (goal, five hits), Jaccob Slavin (textbook defensive play all night), and Dylan Larkin (deadly scoring chance virtually every shift).
"We left absolutely everything out there," Brady told reporters.
Make no mistake, the U.S. is a hockey superpower. The 4 Nations roster was relatively young and inexperienced in must-win games. The core will be a year older and wiser in Italy and should be in the running for an Olympic medal.
Also, the tournament doesn't take on a life of its own without the Tkachuk brothers bringing the group-chat heat in the first Canada game. That round-robin meeting posted massive TV ratings in both countries, overshadowing NBA All-Star Weekend and setting up days of feverish media coverage in the U.S. Hockey was, for once, the main character in North American sports.
The pessimistic way for serious fans to look at 4 Nations: It took way too long for best-on-best to return. The optimistic view: Damn, that was worth the wait.
The international calendar calls for a rotation between the Olympics (2026, 2030) and World Cups (2028, 2032) for the foreseeable future. The bar for those events, as far as quality of hockey, has been set insanely high.
This tournament would've been a dud without full-hearted investment from each participating player - including the Swedes and Finns. They produced a stellar on-ice product, and the storylines couldn't have been scripted better.
Except for the ending, if you're a Canadian fan. That - the tense buildup, the wild finish - was perfect. Crosby passed the Best Player In The World torch years ago, but on Thursday, he handed McDavid the red-and-white version. From one 3-2 OT golden-goal author to another.
Canadian kids, spoiled with transcendent talents and four straight victories at best-on-best men's competitions, now face a tough decision in road hockey.
Sid or Connor?
John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email ([email protected]).