Millions witnessed one of the greatest collections of hockey talent ever take part in the first ever 4 Nations Face Off finals, between the United States of America and Canada Thursday, Feb. 20.
The game concluded with an overtime goal by Connor McDavid to give Canada the win 3-2, who else, but one of the greatest since Wayne Gretzky.
This game was more than bragging rights till the next Olympics though. It was created and aimed at generating more fandom for the professional sport of hockey as it has been seeing a decline in ratings for years. The NHL this year attempted to draw in more viewers by hosting the infamous winter-classic on New Year’s Eve, instead of seeing an increase, it was the lowest viewed winter-classic ever.
Richard Deitsch in an article for The Athletic said, “The game drew an astonishing 9.3 million views on ESPN, per Nielson.” Which fact of the matter is astonishing. The broadcast broke numerous records, including the most viewed non-NFL game ever on ESPN+.
In both Canada and the United States over 16 million viewers tuned in to the game. Specifically in Canada, the game averaged 7 million viewers, about 17% of the country’s population was always tuned in. Overall, the tournament averaged 6.5 million viewers, which is up 256 percent from the 2016 hockey world cup, according to nhl.com. The numbers spark the discussion, is hockey back?
Unlike the first matchup between the two, there were not three fights in the first 10 seconds. This game in fact had zero fights, which left most fans shocked. It was a tactical battle, a true attest to the best versus best.
In the opening period forward Nathan MacKinnon got the goal scoring going when he managed to get his puck through tons of traffic and into the back of the net which put CAN up 1-0. Forward Brady Tkachuk equalized it for the USA with three minutes left in the period off an assist by forward Auston Matthews.
After 12 minutes of scoreless hockey and a moment of intermission, defenseman Jake Sanderson broke the silence in the second period. USA chants erupted and Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd blew through the speakers of TD Garden when Sanderson buried the lead taking goal past Canadian Goalkeeper Jordan Binnington.
Forward Sam Bennett scored what eventually was the overtime forcing goal for CAN with six minutes left in the second period to make the game 2-2.
The third was silent and the score was 2-2, headed into overtime. Matthews had two close opportunities to score the winner for America, but Binnington was able to make impressive saves on both shots. Shortly after, the USA fell victim to a wide-open McDavid.
In a post-game interview, McDavid spoke on behalf of himself and the Canadian team, “It means the world to our group as you can see, everybody battled so hard all week.” The athletes proved that they take as much if not more pride in the best versus best matchups as hockey fans across the world do.
It meant more than the game itself; it was a monumental moment in the regrowth of hockey. The players recognized the importance of this for their sport and provided what was asked of them.
Fans should not be sad it’s over; they should be happy this happened. Millions of brand-new eyes are searching for what’s next from the NHL. Sadly, we won’t get this display of talent for a while but, the NHL plans to return in the 2026 Winter Olympics and regular season play has already started back up.
