How Canada Struck Gold At 4 Nations Face-Off 'For 40-Plus Million People'

BOSTON – The 4 Nations Face-Off did not disappoint.

It did exactly what it was built to do – grow the game of hockey. It ended in perfect fashion as Canada finished with a 3-2 overtime win against the United States Wednesday night at TD Garden.

“I just hope Canada’s proud, because every player in that room is proud to be a Canadian,” said Canada coach Jon Cooper. “Did we need a win? Not only our team, but Canada needed a win, and the players carried that on their shoulders, and they took it seriously. This one was different. This wasn’t a win for themselves. This was a win for 40-plus million people. The guys knew it, and they delivered.”

Nathan MacKinnon, the tournament MVP, concurs.

“I don’t know much about politics, but we know USA-Canada is kind of a thing right now, and obviously we’re playing against each other in a sport. Football’s over, and basketball’s not really going on, so I think this tournament caught on fire. It’s really exciting to be part of it,” he said. “Representing your country and trying to grow the sport, we did a great job. We were all invested naturally and definitely a cool event to be a part of.”

It wasn’t a surprise, either, that Connor McDavid scored the game-winning goal at 8:18 of overtime. He didn’t play that well during regulation, but all he needed was a split second to become the hero. Overall, he was clutch the entire tournament.

“Connor McDavid being clearly one of, if not, the best player in the world, and I can say this about all those guys, they all played with their talent, but they all played with a mentality of fourth-liners,” Cooper said. “The egos there were none. Guys like Connor, who could stroll in and say, ‘Give me the ice, or give me this, or give me that.’ Never. When you have leaders and players of his talent, cheers loud for the guys who are playing in front of him while he’s not on the ice says something about how special he is, and that’s what was special about this team.”

Not to go unnoticed, Mitch Marner was outstanding and provided two huge assists for the winners. It was a smart move by Cooper to put Marner on McDavid’s line.

“Mitch had legs tonight, and that kid can make plays as we saw tonight,” Cooper said. “He just needed once chance to make a play, and he did. It comes down to a gut feeling, and now guys are going, and I felt those three guys could do it and they did.”

If anyone doubted Cooper’s choice of goaltender in this tournament, the coach stood his ground and went with his guy. Binnington was huge in overtime and made five timely saves, including a huge stop on USA’s Auston Matthews that could have easily been the game-winner.

“The most scrutinized position going into this tournament was goaltending,” said Cooper. “For me, it was, ‘you got your guy, and you’re rolling with your guy.’ I never doubted one ounce about ever pulling him, ever taking him out of a game, ever losing confidence in him. His gamesmanship, his ability to rise at the big moment. When it came to overtime, and we needed him the most, make the saves you’re suppose to, and then make a few that you’re not, and he saved his best for last. That’s what winners do, and there was never a chance I wasn’t going to back a winner.”

Next goal for Canada – gold in Italy.

“It’s immeasurable,” Cooper said as the focus now turns to the Winter Olympics. “To be around this group and understand who we have, how they can play, what they can do, build relationships, which is a massive underscored part of everything that goes into it, now we’re just that much farther ahead. It was talked about tonight. How much this tournament will help us moving forward as a group, and me personally, so it was a massive success all the way around. Moving onto Milan, this was a big step forward.”

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