Thursday will see one of the most important hockey games in decades.
Who would’ve thought that an NHL tournament in the middle of February would have the significance the 4 Nations Face-Off will? It seems like everyone and their pet dog will watch Canada take on the United States and the stakes run far deeper than bragging rights.
Not to dive too deep into world issues, but Thursday’s game is one of the most politically charged games in the history of the sport. With the news that the 47th President of the United States called the American team and posted on social media about the game, tensions have risen even more. That same American President has been threatening Canada’s sovereignty over the past couple of months and that’s not something to be taken lightly.
The first game between the two teams was played last Saturday. There were three fights in the first nine seconds, Connor McDavid scored a beauty, but Team USA ultimately came out on top by a score of 3-1. Canada had to beat Finland in their final game on Monday to earn the opportunity at a rematch with the United States in Boston on Thursday night. 
This will be the fifth meeting between Canada and the United States in the final of a men’s international hockey tournament in the modern era. Let’s throw it back 15 years to when political tensions were not nearly as high and Canada hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. 
REUTERS/Hans Deryk (CANADA)

2010 Winter Olympics

The 1998 Winter Olympics were the first time National Hockey League players were able to attend the Olympics and to say they underachieved would be an understatement, as Team Canada finished fourth in the tournament.
Thankfully, they followed that up with a Gold Medal in 2002, defeating Team USA on its home soil to take home their seventh Gold Medal in history. After another disappointing Olympics in Turin, Italy in 2006, Canada was able to host the 2010 Olympics.
There were three groups, with Canada facing off against Norway, Switzerland, and the United States. Team Canada thumped Norway 8-0 before a close 3-2 shootout win over the ever-neutral Switzerland.
In a game that paralleled the 4 Nations Face-Off, Team USA defeated Team Canada in the group stage with a 5-3 victory to earn a bye to the quarterfinals while Canada had to play in the qualification round. Of course, facing Team Germany wasn’t a problem for them, as they thumped Germany 8-2, setting a matchup with Team Russia.
Surprisingly, Russia wasn’t much of a challenge either despite having Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, and Ilya Kovalchuk in their primes. Canada won that game 7-3 to set up a semifinal matchup against Slovakia.
As had been the case with Switzerland in the group stage, Slovakia proved to be a handful. Canada jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from Patrick Marleau, Brenden Marrow, and Ryan Getzlaf. However, former Oiler Ľubomír Višňovský scored with 9:25 left in the game while Michal Handzuš scored with 4:57 left to make Canada sweat. Thankfully, they were able to close out the game to head to the Gold Medal win.
On the other side of the bracket, Team USA defeated Switzerland 2-0 in the quarterfinals and thumped Finland 6-1, ironically the same score as their 4 Nations Face-Off win against the Finns. With the win, they moved on to the Gold Medal game to face Canada with a chance to avenge their loss on home soil in 2002.

The Gold Medal game

Canada’s Jonathan Toews opened the scoring 12:50 into the first period with an assist from Mike Richards. Current Edmonton Oiler, Corey Perry, put Canada up two 7:13 into the second period. However, Ryan Kesler had an answer just over five minutes later to cut Team Canada’s lead in half.
One thing Team Canada was known for around this time was their late goals, more specifically at the junior level with Jordan Eberle. At the 2009 World Junior Championship, the then-Oiler prospect scored with 6.4 seconds left to tie the game in the semifinals against Russia. 
The following year, just a couple of months before the 2010 Winter Olympics, Eberle scored two goals in the dying minutes of the Gold Medal game to tie the game. These two goals from Eberle are far less memorable as Team USA won in overtime to snap Canada’s Gold Medal streak at five. 
Swinging back to the 2010 Olympics’ Gold Medal game, Zach Parise scored with just 24 seconds left in the game to tie it up at two and send it to overtime. Was this goal forgotten like Eberle’s two goals a couple of months prior?
Well yes, because you know the story. Sidney Crosby, one of two players on Canada’s 2010 Olympic roster and the 4 Nations Face-Off roster, attempted to split the defence, losing the puck to USA netminder Ryan Miller, who shuffled the puck into the corner. Crosby regained the puck, lost it in the referees’ skates, passed it down low to Edmonton’s own Jarome Iginla, got open, screamed out “Iggy” and beat Ryan Miller five-hole to win the Gold Medal.
Hopefully, there’s a little more magic where that came from on Thursday evening because this game is a little bit bigger than just hockey.
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