LeBrun: A Canada-U.S. 4 Nations rematch had to happen. Now here’s what’s at stake
It is the dream rematch the 4 Nations Face-Off needed.
“This is great for the game, no matter what country you are from,” Team USA general manager Bill Guerin told The Athletic on Monday after the championship matchup against Canada was set. “This has the makings for another incredible game.”
And we’re going to go out on a limb here and suggest we won’t see a Hanson Brothers redo at the start of the game Thursday night, at what should be a rocking TD Garden in Boston.
No, expect a tight-checking affair in which open ice will be hard to come by. Neither team will want to play too risky. Too much is on the line to open it up. Too much riding to lack discipline.
What’s at stake?
Team USA has a chance to finish the job this time, unlike at the Vancouver Olympics 15 years ago, when the Americans beat Canada in round-robin play but lost the game that mattered — for gold.
Former Team Canada mainstay Chris Pronger had an interesting comment last week when I asked him which of his Olympic gold-medal wins meant the most.
“Probably 2010, because they beat us in the round robin and there was a lot of maybe swelled heads on their side, thinking that they were going to run roughshod over us as we found our solid footing and figured out how we needed to play and come together as a unit,” said the Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman, also an Olympic champion in 2002 at Salt Lake City. “I thought, for the most part, we dominated that gold-medal game and had the better of the chances.”
There was a lot of exuberance among Team USA players Saturday night when they talked to reporters after beating Canada. There was a real sense of achievement in ending Canada’s 17-game win streak in best-on-best matchups, which dated 15 years. That is understandable. You can’t blame this generation of U.S. stars for feeling like what happened Saturday night was significant. Matthew Tkachuk called it the biggest moment in his career next to last June’s Game 7 win in the Stanley Cup Final.
All good. But the American players need to park it now.
If Team USA doesn’t win Thursday night in front of a home crowd, the only thing we’ll remember of that Feb. 15 round-robin matchup years from now will be the three fights in nine seconds. Because the final word will be, “Yeah, but Canada came back to win the big one. Again.” That’s what is truly at stake on Thursday night.
Canada captain Sidney Crosby has a chance to continue his remarkable era of dominance with a fourth best-on-best title (2010 Olympics, 2014 Olympics, 2016 World Cup of Hockey, 4 Nations), not to mention the fact that No. 87 can add to his already legendary reputation by having played this event with one good arm.
Just as importantly, a win for Canada would go a long way toward calming a religiously intense hockey country whose national pride has been dented with back-to-back quarterfinal losses in the World Junior Championship.
Not to mention current world events and political tensions between the U.S. and Canada. A win on Thursday night would be mighty sweet for many Canadians on a number of levels.
On the flip side, after winning back-to-back World Juniors titles for the first time in its history, USA Hockey can make quite a statement Thursday night with a win and announce itself as the king of the hockey hill 12 months before the Olympics in Italy.
The Miracle on Ice in 1980 is unmatched as a moment, and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey upset win was a landmark accomplishment, and both of those events obviously will remain bigger than whatever happens this week. But a win Thursday night to claim the best-on-best 4 Nations, given the Americans’ recent junior dominance, arguably would make this feel like the first time in the history of hockey that the United States is truly No. 1 in the men’s sport.
No question, the Olympics will be more important in that narrative, but until then, Team USA would carry some well-deserved swagger as the best in the world.
The other winners, regardless of Thursday night’s result, are the NHL and hockey itself. There were a lot of people who mocked the 4 Nations when it was announced. As colleague Chris Johnston wrote on Sunday, the event is already a home run, which probably has a lot to do with finally having best-on-best for the first time in eight-and-a-half years. But it’s also because of the players’ buy-in.
Never mind that many hockey fans have craved best-on-best — the current generation of NHL stars were begging for it.
“It’s one of those things that’s kind of escaped me throughout my career,” Team USA star goalie Connor Hellebuyck said last week. “I had a couple of world championships, but the NHL didn’t go to the last Olympics so we missed that opportunity. And then you never know; are you going to get another shot? You’ve got to stay in your prime for when that opportunity comes.
“Being able to put that jersey on now, it’s one of those things that almost felt like it would never happen. Now that it has, it’s pretty surreal.”
He speaks for every single player in the 4 Nations. They wanted this so badly.
Now a championship game awaits. Two intense rivals giving us one more best-on-best title fight.
Cannot wait.
(Photo of Canada’s Jordan Binnington and Sidney Crosby: Chase Agnello-Dean / 4NFO / World Cup of Hockey via Getty Images)
