Canada Wins the 2025 NHL 4 Nations Faceoff

Canada VS USA

Thursday, February 21, 2025 — The first meeting of these two nations in this tournament was nothing short of incredible. The expectation was that these two needed a rematch for the championship game and that's exactly what we got.

New Fans Of Hockey

Based on all the feedback on social media and general watch numbers, it looks like the great game of hockey gained a lot of new fans thanks to this tournament. It's something that players and long-time hockey fans have been asking for, for quite a while now. This proves that the league will see huge benefits.

The Championship Game

Going into this game, most eyes were going to be on the Tkachuk brothers, Crosby, MacKinnon, McDavid, and Binnington. I think many fans knew that Canada was going to come into this game with a chip on their shoulder after losing the first game. Guys like MacKinnon and Crosby were not going to just roll over and die. There was plenty of concerns and questions with the U.S. roster and Mathew Tkachuk's availability for the game. Some late scratches like two Winnipeg Jets players—Josh Morrisey for Canada (illness) and Kyle Connor for USA (Healthy, Kreider played).

Mackinnon started the scoring for Canada, followed by Brady Tkachuk for USA. Sanderson then gave the U.S. the lead and Bennett had the equalizer for Canada. Then, after a difficult game for Connor McDavid, he was left all alone in the slot for the OT winner, giving Canada the victory.

4 Nations Awards

Connor McDavid won Player of the Game for the championship game, while Nathan MacKinnon won MVP. Even though Canada won the tournament, I personally would have give MVP to either Brady Tkachuk or Jordan Binnington. By this point, if you're playing a big game in Boston, the net basically has to be given to Jordan Binnington.

Final Thoughts/Notes

This 4 Nations tournament—while not necessarily for anything truly more than bragging rights—was a huge success. The game of hockey has grown immensely. I've seen so many social media videos, posts, etc getting excited about being a fan of the game now. People that had no interest prior, now are trying to choose a favorite NHL team and are genuinely getting invested in the game.

With next year being the Olympics and NHL players being allowed to play, I think viewership for that will be higher as well, especially in the USA, however, some may lose interest with the IIHF not allowing fighting or nearly as much physicality. In my opinion, the World Cup of Hockey is going to be the next big thing for hockey. It will add at least a couple more nations into the tournament and if it can become a consistent event for the league and the game of hockey, I think you'll see the game grow exponentially.

Congratulations to Team Canada. I hope to see my commemorative coin and Champions scarf arrive in the mail soon. And if anyone is looking for a favorite NHL team, my best recommendation is to go to some games at a few different arenas. The fan base and experiencing a game live is the best way to find your favorite club.