Kraken general manager Ron Francis couldn’t believe what he was hearing earlier this week while at a Starbucks in Naples, Fla. the morning after the first Four Nations Face-Off clash between Team USA and Canada.
“I was listening to four older gentlemen talk about the game of hockey,” Francis said. “And I’m not sure they’d ever talked about hockey before they were in that Starbucks.”
Indeed, millions of people across North America on Friday were still buzzing about Team USA’s round-robin victory last weekend in Montreal and Thursday night’s subsequent 3-2 championship win in overtime by Canada in the rivalry rematch played in Boston. Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers ended the see-saw struggle midway through the first sudden-death frame by firing home a puck from the slot after Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues made a handful of game-saving stops just moments before.
Regardless of the outcome, the intensity of the two USA-Canada games – and indeed the tournament as a whole – helped raise awareness of the sport among fans who’d admittedly never watched hockey before.
“I think everybody was talking about it, watching it, so it was really good to see,” Francis said. “I don’t think it could have had any bigger impact. Which is great, in a positive way, for the game.”
With U.S. television numbers still pending, Sportsnet reported that 10.7 million people in Canada alone – roughly a quarter of the country’s population – tuned in for Thursday’s final. That bested even this month’s Super Bowl LIX, watched by an average of 8.5 million Canadian viewers.
Last weekend’s round-robin game drew 10.1 million television viewers in both countries, making it the most-seen non-Stanley Cup Final telecast since 2019.
And the intensity behind what were supposed to be glorified exhibition games stood out next to an NBA All-Star Game also held last weekend in which players appeared to be going at half-speed.
A Yahoo! Sports headline blared: “NHL’s Four Nations Outshines NBA All-Star Game.”
Front Office Sports wrote that “when Team USA squared off against Team Canada on Saturday night in the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off, NBA All-Star festivities were barely a footnote to the evening.”
Toronto-born hockey analyst and former NHL defenseman P.K. Subban told ESPN ahead of Thursday’s championship clash: “You can step onto an NBA floor and go through the motions. You can’t do that in hockey – you can’t. Like, the culture of our sport, you have to play it with passion. You have to be willing to fight. You have to be willing to leave it on the ice. That’s what fans are investing in.”
On ESPN’s First Take, following Canada’s championship win Thursday, Michael Wilbon credited the NHL “for getting it right” by replacing its all-star game format while calling out the NBA and players for not doing something similar.
Former NFL star J.J. Watt, who grew up playing hockey player in Wisconsin, tweeted: “It’s just incredible how much of a home run 4 Nations has been for the NHL and hockey in general” and said friends who’d never watched the sport were reaching out asking about plans to watch and what to eat while doing so.
“Definition of growing the game,” Watt said. “Much, much respect for how much effort, energy, and passion (players) poured into this tournament. That’s what’s made it so special. The best in the world going all-out for pure pride.”
The intensity shown by players at the Four Nations tournament – featuring the U.S. Canada, Sweden, and Finland — wasn’t entirely unexpected; Hockey players, as with soccer counterparts, often grow up raised on the idea that the biggest pride comes from wearing a nation’s colors.
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