My son and I were listening to the radio on the way to hockey practice last week when we heard a local radio host talk about how the 4 Nations tournament was going to be a flop. He whined that it was stopping what has already been an outstanding NHL season and more importantly squashing the Red Wings momentum. Hearing this, my son (he’s 10 and is already the definition of a “hockey guy”) almost jumped through the dashboard.

“HOW CAN HE SAY THIS DOESN’T MATTER??”

Fast forward a couple days to Thursday. Canada played the Swedes and won in overtime, followed by the US getting a big win against Finland. Great hockey in both games and what seemed to be an unreal atmosphere at the Bell Centre. This set the stage for Rivalry Saturday. Finland vs. Sweden as the undercard and USA vs. Canada as the main event.

Holy shit. What a main event.

The Tkachuk Brothers drop the mitts, J.T. Miller finds the biggest guy Team Canada had on the ice and feeds him a few, party in the penalty box, and that was just in the first 9 seconds of the game. Connor McDavid gives Canada a 1-0 lead on a very McDavidian goal. Then it was Guenztel, LARKIN(!!!) and then Guenztel from Larkin and that was that.

This was the most violent international hockey game I have ever seen. Charlie McAvoy got burned on McDavid’s goal in the first, he spent the rest of the night punishing McDavid every chance he got. Brady Tkachuck was a human cannonball, spent the night hell bent on destruction of anyone wearing a red sweater. Dylan Larkin played one of the best games I’ve ever seen our Captain play. 

Watching this game with my son, living and dying with every shift, will be a cherished memory that we will talk about for years, and that’s just the “dude on the couch” perspective. Think of the players here. Saturday will be something replayed for decades to come. Players on all four teams will be talking about it to their own sons and daughters. It provided a sense of pride in our countries in a time where there’s not really much to be proud of on anyone’s side. Sure, this is just a gimmick of a tournament to take the place of the All-Star game. To paraphrase a meme that’s been circulating the internets: The NFL has a flag football game for their All-Star game, the NBA All-Star game is just jogging around in front of celebrities while an Aldi cashier jumps over a car, the NHL has the Four Nations Tournament. 

Sure, this is an exhibition tournament and has no bearing on anything, but you can’t tell me this shit doesn’t matter. 

It matters, it matters very much.