Will the sequel live up to the hype?

The <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/instant-reaction-united-states-shuts-down-canada-in-3-1-win-4-nations-face-off">United States beat Canada</a> by a score of 3-1 on Saturday in Montreal after boos rained down <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/politics-international-greatest-hockey-moments-canada-usa-miracle-summit-series-4-nations-face-off">during the Star Spangled Banner</a> and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/canada-united-states-open-4-nations-face-off-game-with-three-fights-in-nine-seconds">three fights</a> broke out in the first nine seconds of play.
The two teams will meet again in the Championship Game of the 4 Nations Face-Off on Thursday. This time, the United States will be the home team playing in front of fans at TD Gardens in Boston.
Following Saturday&#8217;s win over Canada, American forward <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/we-had-to-send-a-message-tkachuk-brothers-j-t-miller-had-group-chat-to-plan-physical-start-against-canada">Matthew Tkachuk said</a> that brother Brady Tkachuk and teammate J.T. Miller formed a group chat to plan how to &#8220;send a message&#8221; to Canada.
The elder <a href="https://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/n271112">Tkachuk</a> dropped the gloves with Brandon Hagel right off the opening face-off and then <a href="https://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/n271113">Brady</a> scrapped with Sam Bennett immediately after the next draw. After a face-off in Canada&#8217;s zone a few seconds later, <a href="https://www.hockeyfights.com/players/13708">Miller</a> got into a fight with Colton Parayko, capping off the wildest intro to an international hockey game in recent memory.
So, what might Thursday&#8217;s rematch have in store? We don&#8217;t know what the United States is plotting in any of their group chats, but Hagel thinks &#8220;things will be the same way&#8221; when the two teams play again.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
« Ce que j’ai fait samedi, je l’ai fait pour le drapeau, pas pour les caméras. » &#8211; Brandon Hagel🇨🇦 <a href="https://t.co/sVxTpLi6fL">pic.twitter.com/sVxTpLi6fL</a>
&mdash; RDS (@RDSca) <a href="https://twitter.com/RDSca/status/1891903445390536825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Hagel also said that Canada has no group chats or anything to plan what they&#8217;re going to do when facing the Americans. The Tampa Bay Lightning winger added that he&#8217;s playing for the Canadian flag and not to make good television.
<blockquote>“I think we’re out there playing for the flag, not the cameras,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/EricEngels/status/1891901703605420051">Hagel said</a>. &#8220;We don’t need to initiate anything. We don’t have any group chats going on. We’re going out there playing our game and then giving it everything and doing it for our country. We don’t need to initiate everything. We’re just going to play as hard as we can and do it for the flag on the chest.”</blockquote>
Seeing three scraps in an international game is unusual because IIHF rules are strict against players dropping the gloves. But since the 4 Nations Face-Off is an NHL event, the same rules don&#8217;t apply as they would for tournaments like the Olympics or World Juniors.
This has resulted in a very interesting tournament, with head-to-heads that have much more energy than the usual pond hockey played at the annual All-Star Game. Hagel <a href="https://x.com/reporterchris/status/1891907687354392588">noted</a> that he came into the 4 Nations Face-Off with the mindset that this was going to be anything but another shinny game.
<blockquote>&#8220;I was thinking to myself laying in bed the night before the (first) game, &#8216;If this is going to be like an All-Star type of thing then I&#8217;m going to be so out of place because I&#8217;m putting my head through a wall tomorrow.&#8217; That was my mentality.&#8221;</blockquote>
The United States could be without two key forwards on Thursday. Matthew Tkachuk didn&#8217;t play in the team&#8217;s <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/sweden-ends-united-states-pursuit-of-an-undefeated-record-at-4-nations-face-off">loss to Sweden</a> on Monday and Brady Tkachuk left the game in the first period after slamming into the opposing net. Captain Auston Matthews also didn&#8217;t play on Monday but it&#8217;s expected he&#8217;ll be available on Thursday.

Will the sequel live up to the hype?



The <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/instant-reaction-united-states-shuts-down-canada-in-3-1-win-4-nations-face-off">United States beat Canada</a> by a score of 3-1 on Saturday in Montreal after boos rained down <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/politics-international-greatest-hockey-moments-canada-usa-miracle-summit-series-4-nations-face-off">during the Star Spangled Banner</a> and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/canada-united-states-open-4-nations-face-off-game-with-three-fights-in-nine-seconds">three fights</a> broke out in the first nine seconds of play.

The two teams will meet again in the Championship Game of the 4 Nations Face-Off on Thursday. This time, the United States will be the home team playing in front of fans at TD Gardens in Boston.

Following Saturday's win over Canada, American forward <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/we-had-to-send-a-message-tkachuk-brothers-j-t-miller-had-group-chat-to-plan-physical-start-against-canada">Matthew Tkachuk said</a> that brother Brady Tkachuk and teammate J.T. Miller formed a group chat to plan how to "send a message" to Canada.

The elder <a href="https://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/n271112">Tkachuk</a> dropped the gloves with Brandon Hagel right off the opening face-off and then <a href="https://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/n271113">Brady</a> scrapped with Sam Bennett immediately after the next draw. After a face-off in Canada's zone a few seconds later, <a href="https://www.hockeyfights.com/players/13708">Miller</a> got into a fight with Colton Parayko, capping off the wildest intro to an international hockey game in recent memory.

So, what might Thursday's rematch have in store? We don't know what the United States is plotting in any of their group chats, but Hagel thinks "things will be the same way" when the two teams play again.

https://twitter.com/RDSca/status/1891903445390536825

Hagel also said that Canada has no group chats or anything to plan what they're going to do when facing the Americans. The Tampa Bay Lightning winger added that he's playing for the Canadian flag and not to make good television.
<blockquote>“I think we’re out there playing for the flag, not the cameras," <a href="https://x.com/EricEngels/status/1891901703605420051">Hagel said</a>. "We don’t need to initiate anything. We don’t have any group chats going on. We’re going out there playing our game and then giving it everything and doing it for our country. We don’t need to initiate everything. We’re just going to play as hard as we can and do it for the flag on the chest.”</blockquote>
Seeing three scraps in an international game is unusual because IIHF rules are strict against players dropping the gloves. But since the 4 Nations Face-Off is an NHL event, the same rules don't apply as they would for tournaments like the Olympics or World Juniors.

This has resulted in a very interesting tournament, with head-to-heads that have much more energy than the usual pond hockey played at the annual All-Star Game. Hagel <a href="https://x.com/reporterchris/status/1891907687354392588">noted</a> that he came into the 4 Nations Face-Off with the mindset that this was going to be anything but another shinny game.
<blockquote>"I was thinking to myself laying in bed the night before the (first) game, 'If this is going to be like an All-Star type of thing then I'm going to be so out of place because I'm putting my head through a wall tomorrow.' That was my mentality."</blockquote>
The United States could be without two key forwards on Thursday. Matthew Tkachuk didn't play in the team's <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/sweden-ends-united-states-pursuit-of-an-undefeated-record-at-4-nations-face-off">loss to Sweden</a> on Monday and Brady Tkachuk left the game in the first period after slamming into the opposing net. Captain Auston Matthews also didn't play on Monday but it's expected he'll be available on Thursday.

Canada’s Brandon Hagel on fight with USA’s Matthew Tkachuk: ‘I did it for the flag, not the cameras’

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