The Athletic Hockey Show - Canada wins 4 Nations Face-Off in OT thriller

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

Hailey Salvian and Sean Gentille discuss the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game between Canada and the United States in a thrilling overtime win for the Canadians. They breakdown Connor McDavid's OT winner, Jordan Binnington silencing his critics and Nathan MacKinnon winning the tournament most valuable player. Plus, Hailey and Sean look at what went right and wrong for Team USA, including a monster tournament from defender Jaccob Slavin before looking ahead to the rematch at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Italy.Hosts: Hailey Salvian and Sean GentilleExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Jeff Domet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. Hello, everybody. Welcome to a special, a very special post-game episode of the athletic hockey show. It's Haley Salvi and Sean Gentile here with you. The Four Nations, they are done facing off. Team Canada are the champions. They win three, two, and overtime. It's Connor McDavid with the game winner Nathan McKinnon named tournament MVP.

He, it is nice to know that the three, two, overtime prediction works for both the men and the women. This is great for me. I never need to guess anything else. Just three, two over time is my guess. I was right. Again. We've spent weeks, well, days, weeks, months, years, a decade. All right.

tracking all these things, the Team USA hockey, that American players at the at the NHL level, all these changes, all these, all these things that we can say that USA hockey, you know, boasts now relative to 2010 or 2006 or 1990 or whatever.

Mm-hmm. The goalies are better. The roster is better top to bottom. They have the edge on Canada in a lot of important ways. We got a crash course tonight in what they lack. Canada has Connor McDavid. Just like before him, they had Sidney Crosby. Just like before him.

Still have Sidney Crosby. Just like before him, they had Mario Lemieux in Wayne Gretzky. And the list goes on. the names at the top of the Canadian lineup, man, that's the differentiation point. It always has been and it still is. Connor McDavid's better than anybody. There is a certain kind of inevitability to him. And that's what we saw tonight.

After the first period, one of the big takeaways that you and I had is we're going back and forth during the game because we know we're doing the post game pot is, Ooh, Jack Eichael doing a great job shutting down Connor McDavid. Second period happens and it's like, all right, McDavid's starting to, he's starting to cook a little bit. Canada was winning most of the chances. They were tilting the ice with McDavid in the second. And there was just this sense of he's been a little quiet, but him and Mitch Marner are starting to make some plays together. And Connor McDavid only needs like one burst of speed, one sliver of space. one sliver of space.

And so it's almost kind of funny that on the game winner, he was wide open in the slot. And I watched back the goal a couple times because you got the sense of like, oh, my God, he was wide open. You go back and watch. And Austin Matthews chased the puck down into the corner where Adam Fox already was completely leaving Connor McDavid wide open in the slot. Mitch Marner makes no mistake. And that's a tough one for Connor Hellebuck.

So it wasn't even like a sliver of ice that McDavid needed. It was wide open love. Yeah. They forgot about 97. And watching the, watching the golden goal or whatever, I guess we can't even really call it. I wouldn't call it a golden goal.

They're not winning. They won some hats and a trophy, I think. They're running a very, very generic trophy and whatever else. Something about the hats, the championship four nations, face off champions.

I was like, oh. You know what the problem was? They're made by finessex. That's the issue. Oh, my God. That wasn't it, but yeah. I just thought it was funny that they got hats.

I don't know. Yeah, they lost the one guy you can't lose. And watching the replays of the goal, man, and it only reinforced it. So like, the narrative is difficult to resist because you look at this and you want to say like, you know, this is the Connor McDavid moment. And I'm saying it because it's, you know,

you can't get away from that. but also, you know, he was four feet away from everybody in that slide, too. Like, I, like, I score that goal. I can beat Connor McDavid or I can beat Connor Hellebuck if I'm, you know, I can't. You're going, okay, okay. I don't, I don't appreciate the look. He still, he still went like top quarter. Hella Bucks, not a small guy.

I'm joking. He was covering a lot of a net. It was, he picked a spot. And McDavid beat him by a mile. You would get the puck on that. a mile. You would. You would have a shot on goal there.

I'm being facetious. McDavid beat Hallibuck by by a mile and a half. But it is, man. This is, Canada has the, they have the high end players. They have the generational talents. They have the moments in international hockey.

It's, it's not debatable. And they got another one tonight. Much is it painted. me to say. I think it's also important for Canada to acknowledge just how good Jordan Bennington was in this game. A huge narrative heading in was, I even said it. I think Canada's got the juice. I think they've got the Connor McDavid effect, but Team USA has Connor Hellebuck and Hellebuck. The first goal against McKinnons, it wasn't the most gorgeous. I mean, Nate's great, but I think there was some

people who thought that was maybe a softie by Hellebuck. He obviously started playing better as the game went on. And I don't think Hellebuck did anything particularly wrong in this game. But Jordan Biddington was the winning goalie in the end. And he was unbelievable in overtime. So I think that's a huge part of the narrative and what happened in this game is we all went into this thinking, well, if all the forwards play to a draw, USA is going to win because they've got Hellebuck.

And in this case, that glove save an OT right back into another D zone faceoff or Ozone face off, a few of the Americans, then another save by Bennington. It was really hard to not start being excited about like, oh, my God, he's cooking here. I was trying not to jinx it. I'll say it now. It was great. We saw two huge bits of vindication for John Cooper, who I think might have a future in the coaching business. I know that I'm going out on a limb here. I think I think I think I think John Cooper is good at this.

Two big bits of a validation for him. The first was this setup from Marner to McDavid, right? Mitch finds the pluck in the corner set, you know, has has the foresight. And in the decisiveness to, to get the pluck to McDavid at the right moment. John Cooper, John Cooper had force fed McDavid. McDavid and Marner for the first handful of games in this in this in this in this in this tournament. But didn't he start with Mark Stone? He played he played him up he played him up and down at times like in in in the tops like he

wanted to get Mitch top six minutes right? Yeah. Just with whoever drops him down like he but like John Cooper believes in Mitch Marner clearly in in a big big way drops him down for a little bit ends up playing with Sorrelli and Hagel right? That was that was what we came into the into the game thinking that. Yeah, you're right. I was guessing on that line, yeah. That line was, that line was going to be, but Cooper, when the chips are down, man, he went, he went back to it. And he puts Mitch out there with the best player in the world and says, go do something. And he does. That's vindication number one. In the other bit was Bennington. He's John Cooper for 30 seconds after the, after time ran out. He's in Jordan Bittington's ear. He's got him in half a head. It's half a head. lock half a hug you know sit telling them who knows what i think i think we can all guess

jordan bittington was his guy from the jump john cooper said like i believe in this dude when a lot of other people i think us included to some extent were questioning the decision so man you have if you're john cooper your handpicked starting goal tender comes up huge in overtime and then you know a player like marner who's rightfully maligned and in a lot of different different ways comes up big too. It's just a it's just a got to be an incredible feeling for for Cooper in this instance. Yeah, well Cooper did a couple. He wasn't changing lines as much as team USA did and a lot of that was necessitated by injuries. Matthew Kachuk sat for and left the game for well over seven minutes and then just sat on the bench for the last three in the second

periods. We didn't see much from Matthew could chuck in this game. So we saw a lot of like, either like Dylan Larkin, Austin Matthews, Brady could chuck. But then we saw Dylan Larkin with Jack Eichel or Matt Boldy or Jake Kenssel. I was

I was having a heart, J.T. Miller. Like I had a hard time tracking. And to some extent, it was Dylan Larkin just kind of being the guy that they could let scale the lineup. And he had a really good game. He had a really good tournament for Team USA. But the big forward change in this game that John Cooper did make was making the swap from

McDavid Point Mark Stone to McDavid Point Mitch Marner. And at five on five, McDavid actually played more time with Mark Stone. But once he put Marner and McDavid together, you saw those. Marner was making plays. And it was noticeable at a point in the game where it started getting a little bit. It wasn't stale, but it was safe. It was a lot on the walls. There was a lot of forecheck.

There wasn't a ton of stuff in transition. and no one was really making big plays. But you could see Marner and McDavid starting to do that. And then it obviously worked out well in overtime. Sam Bennett, a big story for Team Canada. It was heading into the third period, I guess. He'd played under eight minutes. He had a goal.

He had six shots on goal. He was leading all skaters in individual expected goals. And he'd drawn the only penalty at that point in the game. So I think Sam Bennett kind of made the point. playoff Sam Bennett name Stick again, but looking on the American side, we will get to Jack Eichel a bit more, but I did anyone stand out to you more than Jacob Slavin? No. How about that? I love the amount of pub and the amount of shine he was getting on the ESPN broadcast. Because I had to remind myself, one of my friends texted me like,

This, this, this broadcast has to be brutal for you as like someone who watches, who has to watch hockey and, and knows hockey because you're getting like, you know, the, the, the, the bio facts about about everybody. And I, it, it wasn't. It wasn't because, because I'm hearing, I'm hearing Jacob Slavin get, you know, get gassed up. Yeah, for, for a huge American audience. He's a player who, you know, that he was. the most underrated defenseman in the league, all caps for three years. He was the go-to guy for that, I feel like. So anybody who, you know, yeah, maybe pays everyday attention to the game knows how good he is. But, man, a national continental audience got a taste of it tonight. He was everywhere. He, maybe McDavid has his moment earlier in the game, if not for Jacob Slavin. Right?

he slave and slave and slave in slave and in uh you know tip to tip to cross ice pass where where where macdavid was waiting in front of an open net like maybe maybe we're talking about a completely different mac david goal that happens way earlier in the game if it weren't for slave he's just everywhere active stick he's block he's blocking shots he's tying guys up at the net front he see stone crosbie early on i mean just like one play after another man he was he was everywhere. The diving play on Seth Jarvis was one where like I as a Canadian and I'm doing the podcast as a professional hockey writer, media person now. But while I was watching the game, it's like full hockey fandom, which was actually nice. I think it's been a long time since I've

actually just sat down and been like stressed out and excited and actually kind of a fan of a hockey game. and there was some times where I was like yelling about Seth Jarvis. But there was also a couple times where it was like, oh, that was that was Jacob Slavin. That was a full, cane on cane crime to what you said. I texted Sean maybe 12. So there was two players, I think, that really hit the athletic hockey show group chat. That's just Sean and I. Because we don't have a fun group chat with like Frank.

Carado or anything. I think I was rage, rage posting about Seth Jarvis, and most of it wasn't his fault. And then I was also just saying like Jake Gensel stop a bunch of times. But yeah, I was not Seth Jarvis's fault a couple times. It was Seth Jarvis.

Jake Gensel scared me more offensively than any other American player on the ice. Like offensively, he was terrorizing me, a Canadian. things that I watched him do for 10 years in Pittsburgh, right? Like he was, he's such a, such a versatile,

smart player who always, who always finds himself on breakaways for one. Like, it's, he's, what is he a cherry picker or something? Yeah, right.

Jake Gensel, cherry picker. It's kind of famously his thing, right? Jake Gensel cheats the game. That's what everyone always, always says about him. He only had three shots on goal,

which I feel. like is wrong. Was he just high and wide constantly? I don't know. I was like, he is freaking me out. Spiritually, spiritually,

it was a much higher number. He was scary. What'd you like about Jack Eichol? The only thing I, the only thing I didn't like about Jack Eichol is that he wasn't on the ice whenever Connor McDavid scored. Yeah. The game,

he erased him in the first period. McDavid's line didn't have a shot attempt in the, first 20 like when do we when do we when do we ever see that i do it it's i think that was a big storyline coming into this game we talked about it with brian boyle on our on our preview show yeah you know we we've seen jack level up multiple times i think over the last three years right and it felt like we were watching it happen again so so your mind starts racing especially like as an amer as an american hockey writer and as an american hockey fan it's like okay this is this is it. This is Jack Eichol announcing himself as, you know, the guy.

And just an inch away. Yeah. I feel better on natural stat trick. Jake Gensel had the best. He was on the ice for 32 attempts to only 15 against him five on five. Not normally. And I think the most high-dainting. chances for Team USA on the ice and not that many for Canada again. So he was he was noticeably dangerous, really good game by him. All right, we want to make this show quick. So we're going to take one little break. We'll come back. We'll wrap up our Four Nations face off post game show here on the athletic hockey show. All right, welcome back to the athletic hockey show. I guess we should talk a little bit about the MVP. It was Nathan McKinnon. He scored the opening goal of the game. He finished the tournament with four goals that led all skaters. little surprise that he got MVP.

What did you think? We came into this saying, unless Connor McDavid does something crazy, it's probably going to be Sidney Crosby. Connor McDavid scores the game-winning goal, but it is Nathan McKinnon. No wrong answer here. Three Canadian legends,

but maybe not the outcome a lot of people were thinking heading into this game. I think we're in a situation, or we found ourselves in a situation where, and we've seen it with a constant, life many times over the years, you're kind of at the mercy of the result of the game, right? Like, like, people voted on this, I'm sure before Connor McDavid scored the game winning goal.

Yeah. By that, by that point, like, what are you going to do? You're going to go with Connor Hellebuck? Like, he was the second best goalie in this game. Sure. You're going to go with Sidney Crosby? Like, he didn't, he scored an empty netter, but basically wasn't shooting the puck. Like, it was a tough choice.

And you can never go wrong with Nathan McKinnon ever. Like, you know that, like, he's just, again, he's, he's, he's, he's one of those guys that you can, you can just count on being a difference maker in games like this. So no one's ever going to be upset that Nathan McKinnon wins an award like this because he's, no, I'm not complaining. He's always, always, always, always relevant. But yeah, hey, if we, if we do this vote post game, it's Connor McDavid. Baby's Jordan Bennington, right? Like, who knew, who knows? I kind of doubt that it, that it would have been McKinnon.

I had people, hey man. Like, he was, he was, he was great when it counted. You never know. I don't think it would have been McKin. I don't think it would have been McKinnon, but who's mad about it, really? It's impossible to be. No. And I think, I don't know exactly how the voting structure happened.

We're not in Boston. We weren't at this tournament. But I know at Women's World Championships, this is actually a pretty consistent. issue that I've said to people, like tournament organizers, IHF, like when you guys send us the little ballot for MVP with 10 minutes left in the third period, especially when it's Canada and the USA, like, we're going to have like four goals from now or there's going to be an OT winner. Like, this is not a relevant time in the game to be voting for the MVP.

And again, it's not like anyone got it wrong. Nathan McKinnon led the tournament and goals. He opened the scoring for Team Canada. But it's always a bit, that's just like how the sausage gets made a little bit when you see that. The voting process starts before those goals actually come through at the end of the game. Always a fun little note when they hand out the trophy. Brad Marchand got it second from Sydney Crosby. Drew Doughty gets it next. So kind of nice, given the old guys the trophy.

Yes. They're so lucky. Crap it, old men. They can, they're 37 years. old and lifting that trophy. It's amazing. That's a direct hit. Yeah, for me, it's like, start the clock.

Yeah, that's, that's already where I'm at, 350 days away from the 2026 Olympics. I think. Is that your big takeaway from this? Is like, here we go. I'm ready. I think, I think this was the best possible appetizer that we could have imagined for, for the 2026 games.

I think that was in a lot of ways what it was designed to be. We got one and a half incredible games out of it between the U.S. and Canada. You know, we watched the best players be the best players.

We saw, you know, the Jacob Slavins of the world and the Brin and Hagels of the world have their moments in the sun like mission accomplished. I see it in Italy, I think. That's that's that's that's that's kind of how I'm feeling right now.

Yeah. Yeah. A couple quick hitters. Thomas Harley ended up being third in Canadian DTOI after not even being on this roster initially. He was huge. Um, as we're looking ahead to the Olympics, he's someone you should probably be penciling in for a top six role unless

something crazy happens. The Pareko-Sanheim pairing was not very good. Obviously, we have to acknowledge there were some injuries. No, Charlie McAvoy, Josh Morrissey missed this game. Matthew Kachuk didn't play for a while. Brady Kachuk was excellent within the game, within the game. As expected, we talked about this with Brian Boyle. Before the games, we don't really need to get into it now.

But he was on Kail McCar constantly, especially early. He is very, very good at the extra stuff, but he also scores. Or he was a big factor. He didn't score. excuse me, but he wins the puck battle. He, you know, screens the goalie. Brady was huge and really a couple beautiful moments. The crowd was chanting Johnny hockey at times in the third period. And there was like a part, I was like, you know what, if Team USA scores right now to make it three, two with five minutes left in the third while they're chanting Johnny hockey at TD Garden,

like, I'll be okay with that. That's fine. That was a really nice moment. So overall, it was incredible. hockey, the tournament. I did not expect myself to be as stressed out as I was at times tonight. And as you said, Sean, this just makes you think like, if these games were so fun in this meaningless tournament that we can all joke doesn't actually matter. What is Milan going to look like? Man, I'm always, always so psyched to get texts from people who don't typically watch hockey. I got a couple more of them the night. And that's, that's the best part of, of, the international element. And that's what we've been missing out on for the last 10 years.

So we're on and we're, you know, just keep the momentum rolling, right? Like we're like, we get to do this again, bigger, better.

David Posernach's going to be there. Leon Drysidel's going to be there. Mm-hmm. A year from now. And I'm, I'm excited about it. And hey, man,

credit where it's due. The NHL nailed this. This was the right thing to do. Yeah. And, uh, all as well, it ends well.

Yeah, I'm trying not to be cranked. that it took us this long to get this. I'm trying to think happy thoughts, which is, that was fun. I'll almost forget that. You took this away from me. Got to stay positive. Yeah. All right. So that's it. Team Canada wins. The Four Nations face off. Three two over time win. Connor McDavid, the game winner, Nathan McKinnon, the MVP. So thanks so much to everyone for listening to this special edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, our postgame episode. We had a preview show. We've had so much Four Nations content on the audio network.

work also on the website and the app from Pierre Lebrun, Chris Johnson, Arpin Basu, Fluto Shenzawa, Mike Russo, our entire hockey staff. Everyone's been all in, and the tournament was so fun. Thanks, everyone, for reading and engaging with us. The Prospect Series with Max, Corey, Scott, and Chris are going to discuss which prospects could replace Four Nations people on the Olympic squad. So a little bit more Four Nations content coming for you guys. That's next on the Athletic Hockey Show on Friday.

Sean and I will be back next Thursday. I guess we're just going to talk about NHL games again. Boo-hoo. Thanks, everyone. Producer Jeff with the flag.