The Rivals Meet Again

When the 4 Nations Face-Off was still just in the idea stage, the ideal scenario in most people's minds was the United States and Canada meeting in the final.  Well, everyone got their wish.  If that game on Saturday wasn't intense enough (three fights in nine seconds to start the game!), just imagine what it'll be like in the championship game!  And this is an exhibition tournament!  Now picture them playing for Olympic gold next year!

The 4 Nations Face-Off hasn't just been an unqualified success, it's given the NHL, NHLPA and fans everything they wanted and then some.  That first game will definitely go down as one of the most memorable in USA-Canada series history, and the championship game will likely join it on that list.  The USA and Canada have met a lot.  They haven't all been particularly memorable or significant.  Others certainly have.  Here, in chronological order, are some of those.

1960 Olympics: This is the only game on the list that didn't feature NHL players.  I'm including it, though, because of how important it is in series history.  The U.S. and Canada met for the first-ever Olympic hockey gold medal in 1920 and regularly met at the Olympics over those first 40 years.  And, since the Soviet Union didn't start competing in the Winter Olympics until 1952, often won gold and silver.

All of those games from 1920-60 had one thing in common.  Canada won.  That all changed on February 25, 1960, when the United States earned its first-ever victory over the Canadians.  That American team would go on to make history for another reason, of course.  They took home the gold medal, the first for an American hockey team. 

As we all know, Olympic hockey stopped being an amateur tournament in 1998, when NHL players first appeared for their national teams.  In the lead up to those 1998 Games, the NHL launched the World Cup of Hockey.  The first edition of that tournament (which has been held a grand total of three times in 30 years) was in 1996.  Which brings me to the next memorable USA-Canada matchup on our list.

1996 World Cup of Hockey: They met in Philadelphia during the group stage and the United States posted a 5-3 win.  They both ended up in the best-of-three final, and Canada won the first game in overtime.  The series then shifted to Montreal, where the United States earned a 5-2 victory to force a deciding game.  Two days later, the U.S. won again, again by a 5-2 score to become the first-ever World Cup of Hockey champions.

To this day, the 1996 World Cup squad is considered arguably the second-greatest American hockey team ever assembled, behind only the 1980 Miracle On Ice team.  Mike Richter was the tournament MVP, and the U.S. roster featured six Hall of Famers: Chris Chelios, Phil Housley Brett Hull, Pat LaFontaine, Brian Leetch and Mike Modano, as well as the likes of Bill Guerin, Gary Suter, Keith Tkachuk and Doug Weight.  Ironically, this group would form the core of the 1998 Olympic team, which crashed and burned spectacularly.

Canada also had a disappointing 1998 Olympics.  With Wayne Gretzky making his only Olympic appearance as a player, they lost to Dominik Hasek in a shootout in the semifinals.  Then they lost to Finland in the bronze medal game and the favorites left Nagano empty handed.  So, they both came into the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City with something to prove.  And what we got was the gold medal game everybody wanted.

2002 Olympics: If the 1996 American team was their best in the NHL era, the team Canada put together in 2002 was one of the best in hockey history period.  They had Hall of Famers left and right.  Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, Jarome Iginla, Rob Blake, Chris Pronger, Martin Brodeur in goal to name just a few.  The American roster was strong, too, but it was no match for a star-studded Canadian team on a mission.

Heading into the Salt Lake Games, it had been 50 years since Canada's last Olympic hockey gold medal.  That drought came to an end with a 5-2 victory in the gold medal game.  It was 2-1 Canada after the first period and 3-2 after two, then Jarome Iginla and Joe Sakic scored in the third to put the game away and cause delirium North of the Border.

As it turns out, that was just the warmup.  Eight years later, it was Canada's turn to host, and the Olympics were being played in an NHL city--Vancouver.  If Canada wanted to win gold in Salt Lake, they needed to win gold in Vancouver.  What we got was arguably the greatest Olympic hockey game ever played (with the possible exception of the Miracle On Ice game).

2010 Olympics: In case there wasn't enough pressure on the Canadians already, the tension became even higher after the U.S. won the group stage game, 5-3.  The U.S. was actually the No. 1 seed in the medal round, while the Canadians stormed through Germany, Russia and Slovakia to set up a rematch for the gold medal.  With the entire country of Canada watching.  Actually, most of North America was watching.

That gold medal game was an absolute classic.  Canada had a 2-1 lead late in the third period, with the Canucks' Ryan Kesler responsible for that go-ahead goal.  After the U.S. pulled the goalie, Zach Parise tied the game with 25 seconds left in the third period.  That set up one of the most famous goals in hockey history, Sidney Crosby's OT winner that gave the host country the only gold medal it cared about at the Vancouver Games.

Will the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off come anywhere near that level of excitement and national pride?  Absolutely not!  Not even close!  But that doesn't mean it can't be another memorable chapter in the USA-Canada hockey rivalry.  After all, that's exactly what everybody wanted when the 4 Nations Face-Off was conceived in the first place!