Connor McDavid scored the golden goal, the Maple Leaf was raised, and the national anthem for our neighbors to the north was played and sung — loudly.
Canada may have been heartily celebrating a 4 Nations Face-Off victory on Thursday night, with McDavid’s goal at the 8:18 mark of overtime handing the United States a bitter 3-2 loss during an exhilarating final at TD Garden in Boston.
But hockey was the unequivocal winner of this event.
A tournament that was thrown together in less than two years – after McDavid and others watched the riveting 2023 World Baseball Classic and wondered why hockey was taking so long to do something similar — ended up being a resounding success for several reasons.
For starters, it was the first time a best-on-best-style hockey tournament had been played since 2016, when San Jose Sharks veterans Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, along with ex-Sharks Brent Burns and Joe Thornton, helped Canada win the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.
Second, the best players were all in. The 4 Nations, essentially a made-up event, wasn’t the collection of glorified all-star games that some feared it would become, with players not wanting to hit their NHL teammates or get hurt themselves. There was passion, animosity, skill, and desire — the qualities that make hockey the best sport in the world when it’s played at an elite level.
Third, television ratings were enormous, at least for hockey. Official numbers for the U.S.-Canada final on ESPN may not come out until late Friday, but with so little else going on in the sports world Thursday night, and a close game to boot, it’s fair to assume they’ll be huge, with possibly hundreds of thousands of people across the U.S. tuning in to watch their first hockey game.
Finally, there was some hate as Canada and the United States, two longtime hockey rivals, met in the winner-take-all final.
Canada versus Sweden — or a U.S.-Finland final — would be fun to watch. But having the Americans face the Canadians again, after such a combative meeting between the two teams during round-robin play last Saturday, and with several days of buildup, was perhaps needed to cap off the event.
At the Bell Centre in Montreal last weekend, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was booed by some in attendance, a likely protest against President Donald Trump’s repeated remarks on social media about making Canada the 51st state.
Turns out Canadians – including the ones on the ice — aren’t terribly fond of that idea.
In the round-robin game, there were three fights in the first nine seconds of the first period, as the American players made a statement that they were not going to back down in a hostile environment. The U.S. won 3-1.
The game drew a large television audience for ABC, with ratings topping those for the NBA All-Star Game’s skills competition. If some fans who tuned into the 4 Nations game didn’t know who Matthew and Brady Tkachuk were before the tournament, they certainly became aware during that game.
Five days later, ‘O Canada’ was lightly booed on Thursday night in Boston because, well, some Americans aren’t terribly fond of those who boo their anthem.
The Canadian anthem’s singer in Boston, Chantal Kreviazuk, changed one of the lyrics in ‘O Canada’ from “in all of us command” to “that only us command” in response to the President’s musings.
Spicy, in a Canadian sort of way.
But this night was about the game, and once it began, it was riveting.
A Nathan MacKinnon seeing-eye goal through traffic gave Canada a 1-0 lead in the first period, with Brady Tkachuk answering later in the first, crashing the net and scoring off a pass from San Ramon-born Auston Matthews to tie the game.
Canada and the U.S. also traded goals in the second period, with Jake Sanderson giving the Americans the lead at the 7:32 mark. But just as anxiety among Canadians was starting to set in, Sam Bennett tied the game 6:28 later.
The third period was scoreless but seemed like overtime, with every shot feeling like it could be the game-winner.
Once overtime began, the Americans had at least three quality chances to win. But Matthews was robbed twice by Canadian goalie Jordan Binnington, who also made a lunging glove save on Brady Tkachuk.
The Canadians got one Grade A chance in overtime and capitalized, as Cale Makar swung the puck around the boards to Mitch Marner. As Matthews went to check Marner, his Toronto Maple Leafs teammate, in the corner, McDavid was left open in the slot.
Marner found the Edmonton Oilers superstar, who beat U.S. goalie Connor Hellebuyck with a perfect shot high to the glove side. This set off a wild celebration by the Canadians — and obvious dejection among the American fans and players.
Still, how many people who saw the game will now start to follow the sport if they haven’t been already? How many boys and girls will now be inspired to play?
Those inside the sport hope it’s a big number.
“I hope they love it,” McDavid told ESPN after the game. “It’s a great game, it’s a great sport, and I hope we put on a good show these last couple of days and gained some fans.”
Thankfully, those new fans do not have to wait too long for another best-on-best international tournament. The 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics in Italy are less than a year away.
Maybe the Americans will get another shot at the Canadians. Maybe another country surprises them both.
We know more people will likely be interested after what just happened, giving hockey another chance at a W like the one it had on Thursday.
“Ultimately,” McDavid continued, “you can’t ask for a better show than that.”