4 Nations Face-Off: Ice Hockey Returns to the International Stage
Image Courtesy: Seth Hoffman via Unsplash
Across many sports, this time of year is a period of rest. Athletes are on mid-season breaks, enjoying post-playoff holidays, or gearing up for their first fixtures of the year. In the National Hockey League, however, athletes are battling it out in a first-of-its-kind international mini-tournament.
Replacing the usual ‘All Star’ break, the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off has seen Canada, USA, Finland, and Sweden competing in a round-robin style mini-tournament. The 9-day event involves each team playing in three games before the two most successful teams clash in a one-game final.
Beyond bragging rights, the 4 Nations Face-Off is an opportunity for players to prove themselves ahead of the next year’s Winter Olympic Games. For the NHL, it marks their latest move to establish themselves at the centre of international hockey after controversially preventing their athletes from attending both the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics. The world of ice hockey has been yearning for a best-on-best tournament, and the NHL plans to lead the charge.
The league made no agreements with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to include non-NHL players, leaving Germany out of the tournament due to a lack of NHL players and the Czech Republic out in order to retain even numbers. The other notable absence, Russia, continues to be excluded from international ice hockey due to the IIHF’s ban after the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Though the 4 Nations Face-Off faced plenty of criticism prior to opening night – due to its one-and-done feel and exclusion of certain teams – it has so far been a great success for fans, players, and, most of all, the NHL.
Big plays from big players have been the theme of the tournament, particularly from athletes on both sides of ice hockey’s greatest rivalry: USA-Canada. Sweden and Finland, though competitive, fell short of a trip to Boston’s TD Garden for the one-match final, which will instead be fought by the North American neighbours.
The two ice hockey powerhouses hadn’t played a competitive match at the highest level in nearly 10 years until last week, and when they finally met on the ice, all of the rivalry’s emotions were felt; three fights broke out in the first 9 seconds of the showdown. The most anticipated game of the tournament did not disappoint, as brutal physicality and elite pace ensued throughout. In the final two minutes of the fierce battle, American Jack Guentzel slid the puck into an empty Canadian goal to decide the game, sealing the red-white-and-blue side’s first win against their neighbours in 15 years.
The North American giants now find themselves facing each other in what promises to be a game for the ages at the TD Garden on Thursday night. The Americans still have bitter memories of the Canuck-great Sydney Crosby’s gold medal-clinching goal in overtime of the 2010 Winter Olympic final. Crosby, who is still competing at the highest level of ice hockey 15 years later, hopes to raise his team once again above their heated rivals and squash all doubts that the Americans are reaching for the crown of ice hockey.
Thursday night’s rematch, which like its antecedent has become embroiled in political discussion after threats of annexation from President Trump and Canadian fans booing The Star-Spangled Banner, will be one of the finest spectacles in hockey of the last decade. As the Americans hope to pick up the last morsels of momentum prior to Milano Cortina 2026 – legacy is on the line.
Will the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off Final put American fans’ hearts finally at rest with revenge for their devastating 2010 loss, or will they once again fall to the unfading Canada? All will be decided on Thursday night.