Great Moments Are Born From Great Opportunities: USA and Canada Will Get A Rematch In The 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game
Minas Panagiotakis. Getty Images.USA vs Canada on Saturday night was one of the most highly anticipated hockey games of the century. There were so many people who were tuned into that game who probably don't know the difference between a blue line and a clothesline. But that was irrelevant. All that mattered is that for the first time in a long time, the entire country was plugged into a hockey game. A peak viewership of 5.2 million proves that people love hockey, just as long as you give them a massive international rivalry with plenty of underlying political tension leading up to it.
The game lived up to every expectation, and then some. 3 fights in the first 9 seconds of the game. Connor McDavid scoring the first goal of the game. And then Team USA coming back to score the next and final 3 of the game. It was as good of a hockey game as you could ever ask for, and USA coming out on top with the win made it that much better.
But you'll remember that the Soviets beat the fucking wheels off of Team USA at Madison Square Garden just 3 days before the start of the 1980 Winter Olympics. They destroyed the Americans 10-3 before the Olympics, and then obviously lost 2 weeks later 4-3. Point of the story there is that ultimately, Team USA beating Canada on Saturday night will mean absolutely nothing if that was their biggest win of this tournament. A win in the round robin stage means absolutely nothing if you can't win when it matters the most.
USA already locked up their spot in the final game with their regulation win against Canada. In order for Canada to hold up their end of the bargain, they needed to beat Finland in regulation today. It looked like they were just going to cruise to that win today when they got up 4-0 in the 2nd period...
But then Finland got themselves on the board. Then they scored again. And then again. And before you knew it, we had a one goal game with Canada about to blow a chance at setting up a rematch with the Americans on Thursday. Luckily Crosby had enough of the nonsense and decided to put a dagger in the Finns.
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Thursday night. Boston. Two teams that cannot stand each other. Canada has their tails tucked between their legs a bit after the first matchup. I'm sure they'll come out flying around. The Tkachuks are going to do their part to be the biggest lunatics the sport of hockey has ever seen. Best players in the world. Best goalies in the world. Biggest psychopaths in the world. USA vs Canada round 2. Can't wait. PLAY FREEBIRD!!!