BOSTON — When the NHL and NHLPA introduced the 4 Nations Face-Off a 12 months in the past, there have been many questions surrounding the event.
The initially query was whether or not the event can be a “glorified All-Star sport” or one thing a lot extra.
In case you watched the event, you recognize the reply. From the preliminary puck drop of the round-robin portion, 4 Nations was merely epic and electrical. And fairly frankly, it’s laborious to think about the NHL ever going again to the drained previous All-Star sport and expertise competitors of the previous.
Listed below are a number of the explanation why the NHL has to maintain 4 Nations going ahead and different random ideas surrounding the event:
Finest-On-Finest Is Pure Magic
Watching the greatest hockey gamers on the planet play collectively and in opposition to one another was of epic proportions.
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Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar led the way in which for Canada. Auston Matthews, Connor Hellebuyck and Brady and Matthew Tkachuk headlined Crew USA. Sebastian Aho, Aleksander Barkov, Mikael Granlund and Patrick Laine suited up for Finland. Viktor Hedman, William Nylander, Erik Karlsson and Filip Gustavsson have been top-billed Sweden gamers.
The video games have been hard-fought battles, with every participant leaving all the pieces on the ice. Sure, there have been some accidents, however that simply exhibits how a lot satisfaction the gamers have in representing their respective international locations.
Now, altering the international locations or including extra nations to the event might be difficult, however who wouldn’t need to see Russia and/or Czechia taking part in within the best-on-best format?
Time beyond regulation Format
Ten minutes of 3-on-3 hockey was distinctive.
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Through the NHL’s common season, followers are handled to 3-on-3 hockey in time beyond regulation, however it lasts solely 5 minutes, which is barely sufficient time for groups to seek out any kind of rhythm whereas battling for the additional level.
The 4 Nations’ 10 minutes of additional hockey was excellent. Assume again to Canada’s opening sport in opposition to Sweden.
With the sport knotted 3-3, greater than six minutes had elapsed within the time beyond regulation earlier than Mitch Marner tallied the game-winning aim for Canada. Had it been throughout the common season, the horn would have sounded on the five-minute mark, and a improbable sport would have been determined by a shootout.
No person desires that.
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Crew Villains Develop into Hometown Heros
Bruins followers have been torn between cheering for the Tkachuk brothers and booing their very own captain Brad Marchand.
Montreal followers like to hate Marchand, however they discovered themselves cheering for the pesky Bruins ahead when he scored Canada’s second aim.
Cheering in your dwelling nation permits followers to see gamers for his or her expertise, not the staff crest, just like the Spoked-B, on their chests.
Seeing Marchand skate with Sam Bennett on the identical line was one thing nobody in Boston thought would ever occur, however Canada head coach Jon Cooper thought they might be formidable matchups, together with Seth Jarvis, in opposition to Crew USA’s high forwards.
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Nobody might ever have imagined Brady and Matthew Tkachuk being the primary two gamers to hug Charlie McAvoy after the injured Bruins defenseman introduced the beginning USA lineup in opposition to Canada within the gold medal sport.
These issues occurred, and hockey followers have been fortunate sufficient to see them.
Elevated Viewership Equals Win-Win For Everybody
The seven-game event not solely spiked viewership throughout the USA and Canada, however it additionally sparked curiosity in subsequent 12 months’s Winter Olympics by making a marquee occasion in the midst of a gradual interval of the sports activities calendar and bringing new eyes to arguably the best sport.
Ranking will increase of greater than 100% have been reported for every of the video games televised on ABC, TNT and ESPN for the primary time because the 2016 World Cup, in line with SVG.com.
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Athletes of different sports activities, like World Collection champion Jonathan Papelbon and NFL legend JJ Watt, not solely embraced the event however raved about its high quality on their social media pages.
It’s laborious to fathom getting again to common hockey this weekend after two weeks of 4 Nations competitors.
Nonetheless, there’s a silver lining. Most groups have solely 25-plus video games left of their common season, which implies it’s time for a playoff push.
We will all agree that playoff hockey is among the greatest hockey exterior of worldwide play, so buckle up — the Stanley Cup playoffs are actually proper across the nook.
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