After years of promotion, the NHL finally debuted its Four Nations face-off to the hockey fans of the world.
It’s finally time to take a break in the action of the 2024-25 NHL season. Last night the league kicked off its Four Nations Face Off in Montreal. The ‘so-called’ best of the best tourney features four countries; USA, Canada, Sweden, and Finland. It’s being billed as showcasing the league’s best talent to see which country is the best. Before I get on my soapbox, which I won’t, the league has omitted Russia from playing in the event. Sorry but you must include Russia in this contest. Otherwise, it is NOT showcasing all of the league’s best talent.
Nevertheless, the first game was between Canada and Sweden. The Canadiens are loaded with firepower and got off to an early 2-0 lead in the game. However, the Swedes were able to keep it close. In fact, the game eventually would be tied 3-3 going into overtime. That’s when the Toronto Maple Leafs Mitch Marner would score the game-winner with Canada prevailing 4-3.
As a side note, Canada’s team captain Sidney Crosby is now 22-0 in any game he as been team captain for his country. The tourney will be a round robin event with the two teams with the most points set for the finals next Thursday.
This event is supposed to be a precursor to next year’s Winter Olympics, when pro players will be back representing the country. I see much more interest in this event for several reasons. The tourney has made a few rule changes that I hope they will eventually implement in the NHL next season.
First off, If a team wins the game in regulation they are awarded 3 points. A win in overtime gets you two. I have always felt that a lot of teams in the NHL fight to just get a game to overtime to salvage a point. Adding this three-point play into the regular season may make winning a game in regulation much more important. Not to mention the players and the fans can go to sleep earlier!
Second, if a game in the tournament goes into overtime, the two teams will play for 10 minutes to find a winner. In the regular season, we only play a 5-minute overtime before we get to what I call the skills contest. When it first debuted years ago, the shootout was a novelty that most fans enjoyed. Today, if you asked the fans, they would rather see a game decided 3 on 3 than a shootout.
By extending overtime to ten minutes next year, you would see most games decided in that period. It would also make the coaches work a little harder as they would need to play more of their bench versus just their top guns. I love this idea, and if the players’ association agrees to it, let’s make it happen next year! Since the salary cap is going up dramatically next season, players will be making more money. I am sure they can handle that extra 5 minutes! Nowadays, a shootout is usually won by the team that has the better goalie, not the best team.
Going back to the tournament, The USA team led by team captain Austin Matthews of Toronto, and team Canada are considered the favorites. I have always been a believer in a team concept, or actually a countries team concept.
Team Finland in many international tournaments over the years has always been a pain in the butt to play against. They usually never have the best skilled players on the rosters, but what they do have is a certain style of play. Finland has always been known as a defense-first team, and as we all know, defense wins in the playoffs or tournaments.
I may be going out on a limb here, but I am predicting Finland is going to come away with the gold medal in this event. Led by goalie Jusi Saros of Nashville, the country has some of its better players not playing due to injury. However, I give them a big chance to win. Watch the first game they play against Team USA and just see how the Fins will frustrate the Americans with their style. If my prediction is correct, I expect all the accolades to come my way! If I am wrong, at least I attempted to be different. Either way, let’s enjoy the tourney.
Moving forward, the league announced that it will be bringing back the World Cup of Hockey beginning in 2028. It will take place every four years. Here is hoping that by then, Russia will be included in the mix so we can have a real best-on-best event.
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