MONTREAL — The only guarantee in this 4 Nations Face-off is the hostile atmosphere that will follow Team USA.
Skating out to boos, while Finland was met with cheers, in their opening game came as no surprise. But if you thought the Americans were the Bad Guys on Thursday, just wait until they take the ice Saturday night for the crème de la crème matchup of the tournament with Team Canada.
Animosity between the two largest countries on this side of the globe has been brewing, as threats of tariffs and suggestions of Canada sacrificing its sovereignty to become the 51st state have rumbled.
Politics always find a way into sports. Things that transcend hockey.
And the United States of America has its role.
“I’m excited to be playing the villain that night,” Brady Tkachuk, who otherwise captains the Ottawa Senators, said with a grin after he and his brother, Matthew, combined for four goals and five points in Thursday’s 6-1 win.
The one thing about the Tkachuks, everybody says, is they can drag a whole team into the fight.
Matthew Tkachuk, who ventured to the White House with the Panthers earlier this month to celebrate their Stanley Cup victory, was short and concise when asked about the U.S. national anthem getting booed prior to Thursday’s game.
“I didn’t like it,” he quipped. “And that’s all I’ve got.”
The Star Spangled Banner had been getting booed in Canada well before this tournament, which will host the final four games on the other side of the border in Boston.
Rangers forward J.T. Miller said it fired up his teammates more than anything Thursday night.
It should be easy to embrace a character they not only were expecting but have portrayed many times before.
Several players on Team USA have competed in World Junior Championships in Canada.
Miller was part of the seventh-place U.S. team that competed in the 2012 World Junior Championship in Calgary and Edmonton, while Blueshirts defenseman Adam Fox — along with Charlie McAvoy and Jake Oettinger — won gold at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Montreal and Toronto.
Matt Boldy, Jake Sanderson and Brock Faber captured gold in Edmonton during the 2021 World Junior Championship. Faber also finished in fifth with Team USA at the 2022 tournament.
Jack Eichel, Noah Hanifin, Dylan Larkin, Auston Matthews and Zach Werenski skated to fifth place for Team USA at the 2015 World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto.
“It was my first time playing in an NHL building in front of a sold-out crowd,” Larkin recalled of competing inside Bell Centre during that tournament a decade ago. “It was intimidating. It really was. Skating out, I’ll never forget, just the sea of red. The buzz in this rink. It was special. Now that you’ve played in some big games, played in front of some big crowds, you’re a little more used to it.
“I think even [Saturday’s game against Canada] is going to be the next level — something I just can’t wait for.”
The callous atmosphere is just a single layer to what is sure to be a lofty matchup for the Americans.
This is the kind of game, however, that’s been just as much of a dream as their NHL careers.
Whether or not they want or like to play the villain is of no consequence — it’s been chosen for them by the political landscape around them.
But how does that saying go?
Nice guys finish last.
“Our group of players are really excited to represent their nation and compete against a real good team,” Team USA head coach Mike Sullivan said Friday. “Obviously this rivalry is well chronicled. It goes on and on. And I think it’s an incredible privilege to participate in it.
“Our guys are excited to earn their way, and that’s one of the conversations we’ve had with them from Day 1 since we’ve assembled here in Montreal, is that one of the greatest things about our sport is that nothing is inevitable. You’ve got to earn it every shift, you’ve got to earn it every game, you’ve got to earn it every year.
“This team is a different team than years past. Canada’s the same way. We’ve got to go out and we’ve got to earn it.”
