A hockey match between rivals the US and Canada descended into chaos from the second the puck was dropped as three fights broke out within the first 9 seconds.
“We wanted to ship a message,” stated American Matthew Tkachuk, who discovered Canada’s Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff. “The message we needed to ship is ‘It is our time.'”
The 4 Nations Face-off recreation unfolded in opposition to the backdrop of uneasy tensions between the North American neighbors and longtime allies, with many followers within the sellout crowd of 21,105 at Bell Centre loudly booing all through the pregame rendition of the U.S. anthem. All of it spilled onto the ice with Tkahuck asking Hagel to drop the gloves and the fourth-line Canada winger partaking within the combat two seconds in.
Andre Ringuette/4NFO/World Cup of Hockey through Getty Pictures
Tkachuk’s youthful brother Brady did the identical factor and tussled with Canada’s Sam Bennet the following time the puck was dropped, three seconds in. J.T. Miller dropped gloves with Colton Parayko after a cross-check, and the 2 went at it to make the trio of bouts within the early going.
The Individuals adopted the fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their greatest rivals.
“That was top-of-the-line experiences of my life — simply an unbelievable hockey recreation,” stated Dylan Larkin, who scored the go-ahead objective within the second interval. “The Tkachuk brothers and Millsy, what a begin, and credit score to these guys for answering the bell. And the gang, only a nice evening for our sport and an excellent evening for this rivalry.”
Enjoying at a blistering tempo and with physicality all through, the U.S. confirmed it may sustain with Canada’s pace, talent, and expertise within the NHL’s first worldwide match with its greatest gamers in almost a decade.
“What an unimaginable hockey recreation,” U.S. coach Mike Sullivan stated.
Andrea Cardin/4NFO/World Cup of Hockey through Getty Pictures
Apparently, the concept of the early-game fisticuffs got here from a bunch chat involving the Tkachuk brothers and Miller. Matthew Tkachuk stated it had nothing to do with the anthem booing. If something, gamers felt it added to the enjoyable of the evening.
“It is simply unbelievable, the environment, to play on this stage in Canada, that was fairly cool for all of us I believe,” stated winger Jake Guentzel, who scored twice, together with the empty-netter that sealed it. “There’s a number of pleasure from our group popping out for warmups and simply seeing how packed it was. That was fairly particular.”
Canada coach Jon Cooper referred to as the primary minute purely “mayhem.”
“It was, I suppose, 10 years of no worldwide hockey exhaled in a minute and a half,” Cooper stated.
With the 3-1 win, the U.S. confirmed their spot within the 4 Nations Face-Off closing. They are going to play Sweden within the closing pool stage recreation on Monday, whereas Canada will face off in opposition to Finland.
