The expectation for Saturday’s 4 Nations Face-off game between the United States and Canada was that emotions would be high.
Those expectations were not only met, they were exceeded. It did not take much time for the intensity to reach a boiling point.
USA forward Matthew Tkachuk ( Florida Panthers) and Canada forward Brandon Hagel (Tampa Bay Lightning) dropped the gloves right off the opening face-off and started throwing haymakers at each other to get the game rolling.
It did not end there.
Off the very next face-off, Canada’s Sam Bennett (Florida Panthers) fought the other Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa Senators) to really kick off chaos.
It somehow did not end there, because just six seconds later USA’s J.T. Miller ( New York Rangers) fought Canada’s Colton Parayko (St. Louis Blues) following a scrum around the Canadian net.
While this game was always expected to be intense, there is no way anybody could have seen a start like that happening.
Not only has fighting been steadily declining in the NHL over the past couple of decades, but fights in international tournaments are pretty much unheard of. If this were an actual IIHF game (and not an NHL creation) every player that fought would have been ejected, as per IIHF rules.
These best-on-best teams are also generally made up of the most talented players in the world who are not usually known to fight.
Clearly, none of that mattered in this game.
The Tkachuk brothers, as well as the presence of Bennett and Brad Marchand (Boston Bruins) on the Canada roster, definitely bring some grit and sandpaper to this tournament. It all resulted in fireworks to start Saturday’s game.