Shortly after his goal gave Canada a 3-2 overtime win over the United States in the final of the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off, Connor McDavid talked about the significance of the tournament for the players, as well as the growth of the game.
In an interview with McDavid, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan asked what the most gratifying part of the win was.
“Just to see the reaction,” he said. “To know what it means to us. I know it’s just a quick tournament. You know? And it’s not an Olympic gold medal or anything like that. But it means the world to our group, as you can see. Everybody battled so hard all week. It was special…it’s best on best. It’s four great countries going at it. Obviously here in Boston, going against an amazing American team and just finding a way. It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest. Just found a way.”
After McDavid detailed how he overcame what he felt was a poor performance throughout the game to score the winning goal, Kaplan asked him a question about how non-hockey fans might have thought about the tournament.
“There’s so many people watching this that might not necessarily be hockey fans,” Kaplan said. “What do you hope they learned about our sport?”
“I hope they love it,” he said. “It’s a great game. It’s a great sport. And I hope we put on a good show these last couple days and gained some fans. Ultimately, you can’t ask for a better show than that.”
Connor McDavid: “It’s a great game. It’s a great sport. And I hope we put on a good show these last couple days and gained some fans. Ultimately, you can’t ask for a better show than that.” pic.twitter.com/t3lk4lYy5w
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 21, 2025
It would be hard to argue with McDavid.
The 4 Nations Face-Off was met with near-universal praise. Even before Thursday night’s final began, its significance to the players was clear. In massive numbers, people tuned in to watch. And while the viewership numbers for Thursday night’s final aren’t known at the time of writing, they figure to be massive.
What that ultimately means in terms of hockey’s growth remains to be seen. But the sport definitely put its best foot forward with this event.
