Border skirmish: Three fights in 9 seconds in U.S. vs. Canada hockey match

The NFL pivoted to flag football for its Pro Bowl. The defense-bereft NBA All-Star Game draws as many yawns as cheers from fans. But the NHL’s All-Star replacement, the 4 Nations Face-Off, is capturing sports fans across North America with intense play from the league’s elite stars.

The event, which features top players from the U.S., Canada, Finland and Sweden, became the talk of the sports world on Saturday night. NFL players might not tackle each other and NBA All-Stars won’t play hard defense, but the NHL’s best won’t hesitate to drop the gloves in a midseason exhibition.  

American and Canadian hockey players started three fights — three fights — in the first nine seconds of Saturday night’s 4 Nations Face-Off matchup between the two rivals in Montreal, which Team USA ultimately won 3-1.

The involved players said the fights weren’t related to recent anthem protests from Canadian fans or tariffs announced by President Trump. It was a simple rivalry, they told reporters. 

American forward Matthew Tkachuk started swinging first, taking aim at Canada’s Brandon Hagel. Tkachuk’s brother and teammate, Brady Tkachuk, followed suit just moments later when he squared up with Canadian center Sam Bennett. 

Canadian Colton Parayko exchanged haymakers with J.T. Miller in the third fight of the opening minute.

“I think [Matthew’s fight] happened pretty organically,” Brady Tkachuk told the ESPN broadcast. “Matthew said that he wanted to go first; it just happened, and now it’s over and done with. It’s right when Matthew found out the starting lineup, he said that he wanted a piece of [Hagel].”

Hagel opted for an age-old excuse for the fight, one heard by parents around the country: The other guy started it. 

“I think I blacked out on it,” Hagel told the Sportsnet broadcast. “Trying to get some energy in the building, he asked, and I’m not backing down from him. I think me and him have a pretty good history of going back and forth throughout the season … long time coming.”

It wasn’t how Canadian coach Jon Cooper expected the game to start. 

“Mayhem,” he told NHL.com. “That was the first minute.”

The on-ice skirmishes were a long time coming after a month of simmering tensions between American and Canadian fans. When President Trump announced planned tariffs on Canadian imports, fans up north responded by booing “The Star-Spangled Banner” during NHL and NBA games north of the border.

Some American fans returned the favor. Nashville Predators supporters jeered “O Canada” ahead of a matchup with the Ottawa Senators earlier this month. The Canadians could receive a similar fate when the 4 Nations Face-Off shifts to Boston this week. 

The American squad has heard the boos even when they weren’t facing their Canadian rivals. Their opening match, a 6-1 win over Finland, began with a chorus of hecklers. Finland’s national anthem drew no reaction from the Montreal crowd. 

NHL officials and the Bell Centre’s public address announcer had urged fans to maintain decorum during the anthems, to no avail.

“It’s unfortunate, obviously, and we wish it wasn’t the case, but from time to time things happen, and people have strong feelings about it,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said Wednesday. 

Miller told reporters he embraced the narrative — playing for his country fired him up. 

“I think we like it, not politically, but maybe just at a sense of, we know where we’re at in Canada, and I think that fires us up more than anything,” Miller said. “So, it’s great.”

His teammates expressed similar opinions throughout the tournament — nothing compares to representing their country. The NBA and NFL’s all-star festivities this month were met with widespread shrugs from fans who were unimpressed by the lackluster commitment from the leagues’ stars.

NFL players coasted through a flag football game while NBA stars continued to skip the dunk contest and played a “defense-optional” exhibition game. 

With the league’s top players wearing their country’s colors, the NHL has dodged those issues. 

Players like Miller and the Tkachuks gladly dropped their gloves to literally fight for their country while American forward Dylan Larkin called Saturday’s win “one of the best experiences of my life.”

They may not be Olympic gold medals or a Stanley Cup, but the NHL’s elite have seemed more than happy to play for national pride. 

“Obviously, I’m a proud American, and I love playing for the USA and being an American,” defenseman Zach Werenski said. “I don’t want to get into the political side of it, but it is what it is. I like to just view it as they want us to lose because we’re the U.S. team.”

The early returns have been promising for the NHL’s midseason tournament. Wednesday’s opener between Sweden and Canada drew more than a million viewers for TNT, making it the network’s most-watched non-playoff hockey game ever. 

ESPN attracted 1.5 million viewers for Thursday’s game between the U.S. and Finland, outperforming the last three NHL All-Star games on the network. 

Ratings for Saturday night’s game between the U.S. and Canada, which will likely be released on Monday afternoon, are expected to dwarf last week’s games.

The victory, the Americans’ first against Canada’s senior hockey team since 2010, sends the U.S. into Thursday’s championship game in Boston. The Canadians will need a win during the final day of round-robin play on Monday to join their American rivals.