Over the past month, you may have noticed some videos from an international ice hockey tournament called the “Four Nations Faceoff” that went viral online. But what exactly is the Four Nations Faceoff? And why has a “niche” sport like ice hockey suddenly received so much attention in the national media? The answer begins in an unexpected place, with the recent struggles of the National Hockey League’s (or NHL) All-Star Game. Every late January or early February, the NHL, the United States’ and Canada’s top professional sports organization for hockey, typically holds its annual All-Star Game, a glitzy event where the league’s best players showcase their talents in a variety of skills competitions. The day culminates in a friendly scrimmage, where the players compete head-to-head for bragging rights. However, the NHL’s All-Star Game has become increasingly unpopular with both players and fans alike. For example, in 2019 and 2020, Alexander “Alex” Ovechkin, captain of the Washington Capitals, made national headlines when he announced that he was skipping the All-Star Game despite NHL fans voting him in. In response, the league’s executives suspended the Russian superstar for one game in both 2019 and 2020, fearing that Ovechkin’s example would start a trend among the other players.1 Viewership for the All-Star Game has also declined over the past few years as well; in 2024, ESPN reported that only 1.4 million U.S. viewers watched the event.2  This year, the NHL has debuted a possible solution to these woes: the first (and only) Four Nations Faceoff. 

A secondary reason for the NHL’s creation of the Four Nations Faceoff is the fact that the league’s players have not been able to represent their home countries on the world stage since the 2014 Winter Olympics (nearly 11 years ago) first because of a failure to strike a bargaining agreement and then again because of COVID-19.4 The “Four Nations” that faced off with each other in this tournament consisted of NHL players from the United States, Canada, Sweden, and Finland. Despite having a lot of distinguished players in the league, Russia was notably left out of the Four Nations because of its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.3 In any case, the tournament followed a round-robin format, where the two teams with the greatest number of accumulated points would play each other in the championship game. The first game, Team Canada vs. Team Sweden, was held in Montreal on Wednesday, February 12th, at 7pm. Canada won 4-3 with a decisive overtime winner. The next game, which was on Thursday, February 13th in Montreal at 7pm, was a Team USA blowout of Team Finland, 6-1. Two more games were then played in Montreal on Saturday, February 15th: the first was a Finnish 4-3 overtime win over Sweden, and the second was an American 3-1 victory over Canada. The next two games, Canada vs. Finland and Sweden vs. USA, were held on Monday, February 17th in Boston. The much-anticipated championship game, featuring USA vs. Canada, was also played in Boston on Thursday, February 20th.5 

Coincidentally, the Four Nations Faceoff occurs at a time when ice hockey has become embroiled in U.S. politics. While the NHL lags far behind the other major American sports leagues in addressing current political and social issues, hockey, like all other sports, has never been immune to political or current events. One example that immediately comes to mind was the victory of the 1980 U.S. Men’s Olympic hockey team over the Soviet Russians in Lake Placid, New York. In the pre-gold-medal match, the American team, comprised entirely of amateur college hockey players, defeated the top-ranked Russians at the height of the Cold War. Sports Illustrated magazine dubbed the statement win “Miracle on Ice,” and voted it as the No. 1 U.S. sports moment of the 20th century. The win ultimately changed U.S. professional ice hockey and the course of the Cold War forever.6  

This time, professional ice hockey’s latest geopolitical entanglement comes not as a show of American national unity, but of Canadian identity and pride. On the evening of February 1st, a video of Canadian fans booing during the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner before an NHL game between the Ottawa Senators and the Minnesota Wild went viral. While no one has officially or explicitly stated the motivation behind the booing, it was certainly in protest of the Trump administration’s 25% tariffs against Canada, which were supposed to go into effect that night. The booing has continued during various joint American – Canada hockey games since, including throughout the Four Nations Faceoff. Fans in Montreal booed the Star-Spangled Banner ahead of the Team Finland vs. Team USA game on February 13th, but things really escalated prior to the Team USA vs. Canada match on February 15th. With the Canadian Prime Minister in attendance, an announcer before the game pleaded with fans to respect both national anthems, but to no avail; the Canadians relentlessly booed the Star-Spangled Banner and raucously sang along to their national anthem, O Canada. Within the opening 9 seconds of the game, 3 separate fights broke out between the Canadian and American players, and the Americans went on the beat the Canadians, 3-1.7 The events of this game proceeded to go viral online, drawing both condemnation as well as praise, and bringing more national attention to the Four Nations Faceoff than the NHL probably expected. 

The anticipation for the Team USA-Team Canada rematch had reached a feverish pitch once the day of the championship came around on February 20th. The game, and the political fireworks surrounding it, did not disappoint. After posting on social media that morning about Canada becoming the “51st state,” President Trump himself held a five-minute phone call with Team USA. Prior to the match, fans in Boston booed O Canada, while they belted out the Star-Spangled Banner along with a professional opera singer and a full brass band.8 Despite all this, the hockey game, featuring many of the NHL’s top players, was extremely close, with the teams going back-and-forth to score two goals each. Ultimately, it was the Canadian superstar forward Connor McDavid who shocked the world with the game-winning goal in overtime that sent Team Canada into a wild celebration. The pride and joy of the Canadian players, coaches, staff, and fans was palpable even through the TV. Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau added more fuel to the flames when he immediately posted on Twitter/X “You can’t take our country—and you can’t take our game,” in response to the victory.9 However, the real winner of the game was clearly the NHL, which reported that the Four Nations championship drew in 9.3 million US viewers and 6.3 million in Canada, making it the second-most watched hockey game over the past 10 years.10

As a passionate and dedicated follower of hockey (I am a second-generation fan of the Washington Capitals), it will certainly be interesting to see how the rest of the NHL season will play out following the outcome of the Four Nations Faceoff and all the geopolitical controversy around it. The response of the Canadians should not come as a surprise; after all, ice hockey is deeply rooted in Canadian culture and history ever since the first organized game was played in Montreal in 1875. This may offer one explanation to why the Canadian fans chose NHL games as a venue for expressing their frustration with U.S. politics—the coincidence of the Four Nations Faceoff, with its international prestige, provided the perfect opportunity to make a bold statement. However, as the three fights during the February 15th game demonstrated, the Canadians’ plan did temporarily backfire, as it provided significant energy and motivation to Team USA. In any case, Team Canada did storm back to win it all, and in Boston, no less. Thus, I believe this unique tournament will spark new interest in American professional ice hockey and remain an important lesson on how sports can unite, as well as divide, people from many different backgrounds.