The NHL’s 4 Nations Faceoff had its detractors coming in and I’ll be honest, for a while I was somewhat skeptical as well. Would the players care? What would the crowds be like considering there isn’t something like an Olympic Gold Medal on the line?

Well, night one of the tournament couldn’t have done a better job of silencing its critics.

My opinion on the tournament started to change once I arrived in Montreal and began interviewing players on Monday afternoon. They all seemed very genuine when speaking about how much the opportunity to play for their countries means to them.

Saying that there’s nothing on the line couldn’t be further from the truth. These players wanted to be here and they want to win — badly.

My excitement went up a notch when the pre-game ceremony, which the Bell Centre crew did an amazing job with. The light-up necklaces that they had the crowd wearing were a great touch and the atmosphere inside the rink was right on par with what you’d get for an NHL playoff game.

When they introduced Mario Lemieux to the fans and had him walk out to centre ice, this place absolutely exploded. I had chills as the crowd chanted “MARIO!”.

Then the puck dropped and the pace was breathtaking. It seems like an obvious statement, but I’ve never seen best-on-best hockey in person and watching a game where pretty much every player on the ice is elite… what a sight.

The crowd was already buzzing and then the Canadians got their first power play of the game and Canada head coach Jon Cooper got to watch as Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sam Reinhart and Cale Makar hopped over the boards in front of him, only to score 12 seconds in.

When hockey fans say they missed best-on-best hockey, these were the moments they craved. Five truly special players, all in the middle of Hall of Fame level careers, on one powerplay unit.

They only needed 12 seconds to send the Bell Centre faithful into a frenzy.

MacKinnon from Crosby and McDavid on a play that just two days ago I watched them work on a handful of times at Canada’s first practice.

Absolute poetry.

Brad Marchand buried his first of the tournament and it felt like Canada was well on their way to a tournament-opening victory, but Sweden found a way to hang around and after getting dominated in the first period, they pushed hard in the second frame and not only did they make it a one-goal game, they got very close to making tying the game on a few occasions.

The third period is where things got tight. With Canada down to five defensemen after Shea Theodore left the game, Sweden continued to pour on the pressure and eventually tied the game at three when Joel Eriksson-Ek buried a rebound.

To three-on-three overtime we go.

It looked like Swedish netminder Filip Gustavsson felt like he was in the mood to break the hearts of the thousands of Canadian fans watching in the Bell Centre. He made some stunning stops in the overtime period but he couldn’t stop the last one as Mitch Marner sent the crowd into a frenzy.

How about that, hey? A collection of fans that largely root for the Montreal Canadiens end up on their feet cheering goals scored by Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand and Mitch Marner Toronto Maple Leafs. The beauty of international hockey.

Sidney Crosby looked like he was 27 years old, not 37. Connor McDavid was flying past his Oilers teammate Mattias Ekholm and had multiple video game-esque moments.

This game did everything in its power to silence those who were critical of this tournament.

Now, can you imagine if it only gets better from here?