Currently the Four Nations round-robin hockey tournament is in progress. The U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland are participating. It started with two games in Montreal, and will continue with two games in Boston. Last night, a fired-up Team USA beat Canada 3-1 to take a commanding lead in the tournament going into the final two games.
The evening began with a hostile Canadian crowd, that included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, booing the U.S. national anthem:
That proved to be a mistake. Team USA came out smoking. There were three fights in the first nine seconds of the game. As soon as the puck was dropped, forward Matthew Tkachuk dropped his gloves and challenged Canadian Brandon Hagel. Once they were in the penalty box, his brother, Brady Tkachuk, went at it with Canadian Sam Bennett. (Matthew and Brady are the sons of former NHL star Keith Tkachuk.) A few seconds later, at the Canadians’ goal, undersized American J.T. Miller fought Colton Parayko. It was like the NHL hockey that I remember from the early 1970s.
Canada scored first on a goal by superstar Conor McDavid, but Jake Guentzel tied it up for Team USA just 26 seconds later. One nice thing about hockey is that there is generally a Minnesota angle: Guentzel grew up in Minnesota, and his father is an assistant coach for the University of Minnesota Gophers. A cousin of one of my sons-in-law is one of the other Minnesotans playing for Team USA.
The Americans got a go-ahead goal by the Detroit Red Wings’ Dylan Larkin 13 minutes into the second period.
At that point, they went into defensive mode. Team Canada carried the play for most of the rest of the game, but the Americans’ tight defense prevented them from getting many real chances. The Canadians pulled their goalie with two minutes to play, and Guentzel, who was named the game’s number one star, scored an empty net goal to finish the scoring.
It bears mentioning that after the initial fights, it was an exceptionally clean game, with nonstop action. Only three penalties were called the rest of the way.
This video includes the fights, scoring plays and other highlights:
The USA has a commanding lead in the tournament, with six points. Every other country has two. Team USA will play Sweden tomorrow night, but are guaranteed a spot in Thursday’s final regardless of the outcome.
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