From February 12 to 20, 2025, National Hockey League (NHL) players hit the ice in Montreal and Boston, facing off with rosters from four teams representing their home countries. Hockey fans were initially apprehensive, as this tournament replaced the usual All-Star Game and its accompanying shenanigans showcasing the athletes.
It was a peculiar experience, I found myself cheering for players I usually root against (sorry, Tkachuk brothers). Certainly a prelude to the 2026 Olympics with lower stakes, but still incredibly entertaining — and, given the current political climate, undeniably powerful.
The Four Nations
Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland took to the ice for some hockey games in Montreal at Bell Centre, and in Boston at TD Garden.
If you’re geographically challenged like me, allow me to let you know that Sweden and Finland border each other like the United States and Canada do: these geographical placements enable national rivalries that span hundreds of years.
The main two anticipated match-ups in this tournament was between the U.S. and Canada and between Sweden and Finland.
Now, while they’re all stars, here are some notable names of each team:
- USA: Auston Matthews, Brady & Brock Tkachuk, Jack Hughes
- Canada: Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Cale Makar
- Sweden: Victor Hedman, William Nylander, Filip Forsberg
- Finland: Aleksander Barkov, Sebastian Aho, Mikko Rantanen
The full roster of each team can be found here and a general breakdown of the tournament can be found here!
The Beef
The political backdrop is not to be ignored, as comes with the (literal) territory of holding an international competition separating players based off of their home country.
Although the tensions between U.S. and Canadian hockey have run for decades, the sour relationship between the two nations seem to have been exacerbated by the current political climate.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his tendency to jab, taunt, and threaten the neighboring country did not go forgotten. Canadian fans therapy took the shape of booing the U.S.’s national anthem, exchanging traditional trash talk, and ultimately beating the United States in the final championship game.
And of course, if you haven’t heard enough talk about tariffs, they too are inflating the resentment of affected hockey fans.
In the first game that Team Canada and Team U.S. were matched up in, the theatrics began immediately. Two seconds after the puck dropped, Matthew Tkachuk (USA) and Brandon Hagel (CAN) dropped their gloves and brawled out. 7 more seconds would pass as more action ensued.
To summarize: In the span of 9 seconds after the puck dropped, 3 fights had taken place between players from the U.S. and Canada.
The Aftermath
In the United States, hockey is not necessarily the first sport that people tune into… nor is it second, or third. To put it into perspective, the NHL 2023-24 regular season averaged 504,000 viewers per game across ABC, ESPN, and TNT. In 2024, the NFL averaged about 17.5 million viewers for regular season games, while the NBA averaged 1.6 million viewers across those same networks in their regular season.
However, Canada’s triumph over the U.S. in the National Hockey League’s 4 Nations Face-Off final drew over 16 million viewers across North America. ESPN announced that this stream would mark the most-viewed ice hockey game in their history.
Hockey enthusiasts are optimistic about the impact of this tournament on its publicity of the sport and spread to the public.
The NHL hosted a game on March 1st at Ohio Stadium, drawing the league’s second-largest in-person crowd ever and an overall audience of 1.6 million viewers — 16% higher than the average 2024 Stadium Series games on ABC at MetLife Stadium.
These numbers make it the most-watched Stadium Series game ever on cable, and the second most-watched regular-season game on cable behind the 2022 Winter Classic between the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins (TNT).
Almost a week after the 4 Nations Face-Off, many are correlating the success of the Stadium Series game to the spillover excitement and newfound interest sparked by the international tournament.
So what?
The last true best-on-best tournament took place in 2016 with the World Cup of Hockey. More notably, NHL players were absent in the 2018 Olympics due to mishandled negotiations, and COVID protocols that barred their return in 2022.
Simply put, it’s been nearly a decade since we’ve seen this level of international competition. While the limited scope in the 4 Nations Face-Off doesn’t fully showcase the absolute “best-of-the-best” across the NHL and other professional leagues, it’s the closest we’ve come to a global tournament featuring NHL talent.
The renewed commitment to bringing NHL players back to the international stage, particularly with the 4 Nations Face-Off, has sparked major excitement for the game’s future.
As the second half of the NHL season heats up, viewership and fan interest are surging ahead of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs and, ultimately, the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Let’s face it, hockey is so back.