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4 Nations Face-Off
International men's ice hockey tournament From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 4 Nations Face-Off (French: Confrontation des 4 nations) was an international ice hockey tournament held from February 12 to 20, 2025. The games were played in Montreal at Bell Centre and in Boston at TD Garden. Hosted by the National Hockey League (NHL) and featuring only NHL players, the 4 Nations Face-Off temporarily replaced the NHL's annual All-Star Game for 2025. In the tournament, teams representing Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States played each other in a round-robin format, followed by a one-game final between the two top-placed teams. Although each team's respective national ice hockey governing body selected the rosters, the tournament was an NHL-only event, not affiliated with the International Ice Hockey Federation.
Canada won the tournament after defeating the United States 3–2 in overtime of the final. Reactions to the tournament from sports journalists were positive and the tournament was viewed as a welcome change from the All-Star Game format.[1]
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Background
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The 4 Nations Face-Off was announced at a press conference at the 2024 NHL All-Star Game on February 2, 2024, by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.[2] Also present at the press conference were NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) executive director Marty Walsh and four NHL players: Connor McDavid (Canada), Sebastian Aho (Finland), Elias Pettersson (Sweden), and Auston Matthews (United States).[3]
At the press conference, Bettman announced plans for NHL participation in international best-on-best tournaments in coming years.[4][5] In 2025, players participated in the 4 Nations Face-Off, a tournament between NHL players representing Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. The NHL 4 Nations Face-off took place in lieu of the 2025 NHL All-Star Game.[6] Bettman stated that NHL players would play in the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics, after they had not been released for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.[2][4] Bettman also stated the league would host the next World Cups of Hockey in 2028 and 2032; the most recent edition was held in 2016.[4][7][8]
At the time of the tournament's announcement, all participating teams were ranked in the top six by ice hockey's worldwide governing body, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF): Canada (1), Finland (2), United States (4), and Sweden (6).[10] Germany, while ranked fifth, did not have enough NHL players to create a roster.[11][10] Though they had enough NHL players to create a roster, Russia and Czechia—ranked third and eighth, respectively—were not included in the tournament,[9][11] with Russia specifically excluded due to the ban imposed on it by the IIHF for the ongoing war in Ukraine.[12][13][14] Czech forward David Pastrnak called the omission of Czechia a "huge disappointment", though he said he understood there was limited time to organize the tournament.[15][16] In early reporting on the tournament's format, journalist Greg Wyshynski wrote that the competition could not be considered best-on-best due to the omission of players from other ice hockey powers.[17]
The tournament took place among heightened political tensions between Canada and the United States due to American president Donald Trump's call for annexing Canada and plan to impose tariffs on the country. Before the final, Trump posted on Truth Social stating he would be calling the United States team and that "[Canada] will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished, and very important, Fifty First State".[18] After Canada beat the United States in the final, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted "You can't take our country — and you can't take our game".[18] Before Canada's round robin game against the United States in Montreal, fans booed the American anthem, which was responded to by fans booing the Canadian anthem in the final in Boston. Anthem singer Chantal Kreviazuk changed one of the lines of the Canadian anthem to sing "that only us command" instead of "in all of us command" in response to Trump's annexation rhetoric.[18] Following the game, tournament MVP Nathan MacKinnon stated "A lot of stuff going on with Canada and the USA right now, and us playing against each other was kind of a perfect storm for our sport. It was much more popular than even we would have imagined. It was getting so much attention from our whole continent."[19] Canada's coach Jon Cooper stated "[a]nd yeah, did we need a win, not only [...] our team, but Canada needed a win. The players bared 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 and the guys knew it and they delivered."[20] The political tension in the tournament between the United States and Canada was compared to the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union.[21][22]
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Venues
The league did not initially announce the tournament venues, but stated that there would be two, one in Canada and one in the United States.[23] The league confirmed on June 8, 2024, that the venues would be Bell Centre in Montreal and TD Garden in Boston,[24] after months of reports by various media sources.[15][25][26][27]
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Format
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Two practice days, February 10 and 11, were held prior to the tournament. From February 12–20, seven total games were played. The tournament was held in a round-robin format. Each team played three games, and the two teams with the most points advanced to a one-game final.[23]
Games were played on NHL-sized rinks, following NHL rules.[23] For round-robin games, overtime was a 10-minute, 3-on-3 sudden-death period, followed by a three-round shootout. In the final, overtime was held in consecutive 20-minute, 5-on-5 sudden-death periods.[23]
- Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points earned (3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for an overtime or shootout win, 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss, 0 points for a regulation loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:[30]
- Head-to-head result (only if tie between two teams);
- Total regulation wins;
- Total regulation and overtime wins;
- Total goal difference;
- Total goals scored;
- Goal difference in games played between tied teams;
- Goals scored in games played between tied teams;
- Most even strength goals for in games played between tied teams;
- Fewest even strength goals against in games played between tied teams.
Teams
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Teams consisted of 23 players: 20 skaters (forwards and defencemen) and 3 goaltenders.[23] Players were selected by their respective governing bodies: Hockey Canada, the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and USA Hockey.[23] The tournament was restricted to players who have a 2024–25 NHL contract and were on an NHL roster as of December 2, 2024.[31] Because the NHL did not have an agreement directly with the IIHF for the 4 Nations Face-Off (only an agreement with the governing bodies as mentioned above, which are IIHF members), the tournament could not include non-NHL players.[11][14]
On June 28, 2024, the NHL announced the first six players on each team's roster.[32] The remaining players were announced on December 4, with the complete rosters of Team Sweden and Team Finland announced at 2:00 p.m. ET on the NHL Network and ESPN's SportsCenter, and the complete rosters of Team USA and Team Canada announced at 6:30 p.m. during pregame broadcasts on Sportsnet, TNT, and TVA Sports.[33] Initially, no players from the Seattle Kraken or Washington Capitals were selected to participate in the Face-Off;[34] however, the Kraken gained a representative when they acquired Finland's Kaapo Kakko from the New York Rangers on December 18, 2024.[35] About a week before the Face-Off, the San Jose Sharks also lost their representation in the event by trading Finland's Mikael Granlund to the Dallas Stars, making the Capitals and Sharks the only two teams to not appear in the Face-Off.[36]
Canada
In April 2024, it was announced that Don Sweeney and Jim Nill were appointed by Doug Armstrong as Canada's general manager and associate general manager, respectively.[37] Both were also named assistant general managers for the 2026 Olympic team.[38] On June 25, Jon Cooper was named Canada's head coach for both the 4 Nations Face-Off and 2026 Winter Olympics.[39] Rick Tocchet, Bruce Cassidy, and Peter DeBoer joined Cooper as assistant coaches for the 4 Nations Face-Off.[40] On December 4, 2024, the entire roster for Canada was released.[32][41] On January 26, 2025, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo withdrew from the tournament;[42] Drew Doughty was announced as his replacement on February 9.[43] On January 30, 2025, Team Canada named Sidney Crosby as its team captain for the 4 Nations Face-Off, with Cale Makar and Connor McDavid serving as alternate captains.[44] After an injury to Shea Theodore in Canada's first game, and Makar facing a potential absence due to illness, Thomas Harley was named as emergency alternate for Canada; after Makar was officially ruled out for Canada's second game, Harley formally joined the roster, playing for Canada against the United States.[45][46] Brad Marchand served as alternate captain in the absence of Makar.[47]
Head coach: Jon Cooper
Finland
Jere Lehtinen was the general manager, and his assistants were Mikko Koivu and Jarmo Kekalainen.[50][51]
Antti Pennanen was the head coach.[52] Tuomo Ruutu is the assistant coach. On December 4, 2024, the entire roster for Finland was released.[32][53] On January 30, 2025, Aleksander Barkov was named captain for Team Finland; Sebastian Aho, Mikael Granlund, and Mikko Rantanen were named alternate captains.[54] Also on the 30th, defenseman Miro Heiskanen was ruled out of the tournament due to injury.[55] On February 2, he and defenseman Jani Hakanpaa, who was also injured, were replaced by Urho Vaakanainen and Henri Jokiharju.[56] On February 9, defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen was ruled out due to injury, and was replaced by Nikolas Matinpalo.[57]
Head coach: Antti Pennanen
Sweden
The general manager for Sweden was Josef Boumedienne, along with assistant general manager was Patric Hornqvist.[58] Sam Hallam was the head coach,[59] and Daniel Alfredsson served as an assistant coach.[60] On December 4, 2024, the full roster for Sweden was released.[32][61] On January 29, 2025, goaltender Jacob Markstrom withdrew from the tournament due to injury, and was replaced by Samuel Ersson.[62] On February 3, forward William Karlsson also withdrew due to injury, and was replaced by Rickard Rakell.[63] On January 30, Victor Hedman was named team captain for Team Sweden; Mattias Ekholm, Erik Karlsson, and William Nylander were selected as alternate captains.[64]
Head coach: Sam Hallam
United States
In February 2024, Bill Guerin was announced as general manager of the United States team for the 4 Nations Face-Off and 2026 Winter Olympics.[67] In May, Mike Sullivan was named head coach of the team for both competitions.[68] John Hynes,[69] John Tortorella, and David Quinn are the assistant coaches.[70] On December 4, 2024, the entire roster for the United States was released.[32][71] On January 30, 2025, Auston Matthews was named captain for Team USA; Charlie McAvoy and Matthew Tkachuk were chosen as its alternate captains.[72] On February 9, defenseman Quinn Hughes withdrew from the tournament due to a lower-body injury, and was replaced by Jake Sanderson.[73][74] On February 18, Quinn Hughes attempted to rejoin the tournament while Charlie McAvoy withdrew from the championship game after suffering an upper-body injury during the game against Finland, but ultimately did not rejoin and Team USA added Tage Thompson and Brett Pesce as emergency backups.[75][76] Jack Eichel, Brock Nelson, and Brady Tkachuk served as alternate captains in the absence of Matthews, McAvoy, and Matthew Tkachuk.[77][78]
Head coach: Mike Sullivan
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Officials
The NHL selected four of their referees and four linesmen to officiate the tournament:[79]
- Referees
Gord Dwyer- Jean Hebert
- Wes McCauley
Chris Rooney
- Linesmen
- Scott Cherrey
- Ryan Daisy
- Kiel Murchison
- Jonny Murray
Standby referee Pierre Lambert officiated two periods after replacing Wes McCauley during the first intermission of the Sweden–United States game.[80]
Results
Round-robin
| February 12 8 p.m. | Canada  | 4–3 OT (2–0, 1–1, 0–2) (OT: 1–0) |  Sweden | Bell Centre, Montreal Attendance: 21,105 |
| February 13 8 p.m. | United States  | 6–1 (1–1, 1–0, 4–0) |  Finland | Bell Centre, Montreal Attendance: 21,105 |
| February 15 1 p.m. | Finland | 4–3 OT (2–1, 1–2, 0–0) (OT: 1–0) | Sweden | Bell Centre, Montreal Attendance: 19,724 |
| February 15 8 p.m. | United States | 3–1 (1–1, 1–0, 1–0) | Canada | Bell Centre, Montreal Attendance: 21,105 |
| February 17 1 p.m. | Canada | 5–3 (3–0, 1–0, 1–3) | Finland | TD Garden, Boston Attendance: 17,238 |
| February 17 8 p.m. | Sweden | 2–1 (2–1, 0–0, 0–0) | United States | TD Garden, Boston Attendance: 17,850 |
Final
| February 20 8 p.m. | Canada | 3–2 OT (1–1, 1–1, 0–0) (OT: 1–0) | United States | TD Garden, Boston Attendance: 17,850 |
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Statistics
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Scoring leaders
The following players led the tournament in points.[81]
Leading goaltenders
The following goaltenders led the tournament in save percentage (minimum 40% of team's total ice time).[82]
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Broadcasting
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The tournament was broadcast by the NHL's North American rightsholders. It was televised exclusively in Canada on Sportsnet in English and TVA Sports in French, and streamed on Sportsnet+.[83][84] In the United States, the tournament was split between the ESPN networks and TNT Sports.[83] ESPN-produced games were further split, with two games on the cable channel ESPN and two games carried on broadcast television by ABC. Three games were also carried by ESPN Deportes in Spanish. All ESPN-produced games were streamed on ESPN+, and Disney+ also streamed both the one round-robin game and the championship game between Canada and the United States.[85][86] TNT Sports' games were simulcast on TNT and TruTV, and streamed on Max via Bleacher Report sports.[87] Canadian rightsholder, Sportsnet, served as host broadcaster for all games, including those held in Boston in the U.S.[88]
The tournament was highly viewed in North America; in the United States, the championship game was seen by an average of 9.3 million viewers, overtaking game seven of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final as the fourth-highest rated NHL telecast of all time (behind game six of the 1973 Stanley Cup Final). Sportsnet reported an average of 5.7 million viewers in the championship game, ranking behind only game seven of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final as the second-highest rated hockey telecast in network history.[89][90]
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References
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External links
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