Boston, Mass. (WEEI/WGR Sports Radio 550) - The rematch is officially on.
After Canada survived a late-game scare Monday afternoon at TD Garden to hold on for a 5-3 win over Finland, they clinched their spot in Thursday’s 4 Nations Face-Off final, where the United States will be waiting for them.
The U.S. already secured its place in Thursday night’s final in Boston with regulation wins against Finland and Canada to start the in-season tournament.
This is how it was supposed to go.
With all due respect to Finland and Sweden, both of whom put forth competitive efforts and both of whom have stars of their own, a U.S. final against one of them simply would not have had the juice this rematch with Canada will.
It is not hyperbole at all to say Thursday night will be one of the most anticipated games in the history of USA Hockey.
There is the obvious, in-the-moment narrative, the one that even the most casual of fans is by now well aware of. When the U.S. and Canada played Saturday night in Montreal at the Bell Centre, the game began with three fights in the first nine seconds.
The intensity barely let up the rest of the night.
The best player in the world, Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers), scored a highlight-reel goal. He also got hammered by Charlie McAvoy (Boston Bruins) on a momentum-changing hit that one of McAvoy’s teammates described as “nuclear.”
In the end, the U.S. came away with a 3-1 win, its first best-on-best international win over Canada since the group stage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Canada’s 26-game winning streak with Sidney Crosby in the lineup was also over.
The game was ratings gold for ABC, the NHL and the sport of hockey in general. No hockey game outside of a Stanley Cup Final had been watched by so many people since 2019. The broadcast averaged 4.4 million viewers, peaking at 5.2 million.
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There was no title on the line Saturday. There will be Thursday.
Whether anyone knows what the winning team gets as a reward feels irrelevant (for the record, they’ll get both a trophy and gold medals).
What matters is that it’s USA vs. Canada for international bragging rights, with all the added emotion brought on by Saturday night thrown into the equation.
There is a bigger-picture narrative in play here, too.
These U.S. players, borrowing a line from the movie “Miracle,” have said that this is “their time.” They have every reason to believe that.
They have been part of a generation of Americans who have been closing the gap on, and arguably passing Canada at the junior level, winning six gold medals at the IIHF World Junior Championship since 2010 to Canada’s five.
Before this week, this American core – Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs), Jack Eichel (Vegas Golden Knights), Matthew (Florida Panthers) and Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa Senators), Jack Hughes (New Jersey Devils), McAvoy, Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets), Adam Fox (New York Rangers), Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets) – had not yet had the chance to prove themselves at the senior level. There hadn’t been a best-on-best international tournament since 2016, when most of them were either not in the NHL or not yet in their primes.
Now they have their chance.
Saturday night was a good first punch, literally and figuratively, but it was certainly not a knockout blow.
On the other side, Thursday night will be an equally proud Team Canada that wants revenge, that wants to prove they’re still the best when it matters most, and that Saturday was just a speed bump.
Can the rematch possibly live up to the hype? Will there be more fights? Can Team USA win its first international best-on-best tournament since 1996? Or will Canada bounce back and win its fourth straight best-on-best competition?
If Saturday’s ratings were any indication, we’ll all be tuning in to find out.
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