by Matthew Robley
In February, NHL interest grew dramatically as the league held its inaugural Four Nations Tournament featuring the United States, Canada, Sweden, and Finland. Each team consisted of the NHL’s top players, making it a star-studded tournament. Stars such as Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers), Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), Austin Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs), and Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets) participated in the tournament .
The first game was played on February 16th as Sweden battled Canada. There were six round robin games to determine the standings and who would play in the 4 Nations championship game. A win counted as three points, an overtime win counted as two points, and an overtime loss counted as one point. At the end of the round robin games, the United States finished first with six points, Canada finished second with five points, Sweden finished third with five points, and Finland finished fourth with two points.
The Championship game between The United States and Canada took place on Thursday, February 20th. This game was one of the most anticipated hockey games in recent memory. The Four Nations Tournament grew the sport dramatically, bringing in approximately 16.1 million viewers for the Championship game from North America alone. Hockey is not the most popular sport in the U.S., but this tournament was able to introduce people to the sport and the NHL grew because of that.
On February 20th the puck was dropped at 8:00 pm. The game was held at TD Garden in Boston and the atmosphere was electric. The American and Canadian fans were having a blast. The game was very close with Canada striking first in the first period on a goal by Nathan MacKinnon. Later in the period, Brady Tkachuck responded with a goal for the U.S. to tie the game at 1. In the second period, both teams scored again – Jake Sanderson for the U.S., and Sam Bennet for Canada. The game stayed tied for the rest of regulation and went to overtime. Late in overtime, there was a faceoff in the U.S. ‘s zone and who else but Connor McDavid got open and sniped one past Hellebuyck to win the first ever 4 Nations Face-off Championship for Canada.