Hockey has been without best on best competition at the International level for nine years, since the Wold Cup of Hockey in 2016. Finally, the world will get to see the best players compete for their country. This year, the NHL is introducing the 4 Nations Face Off, a mini tournament that is taking place of the all-star game this year. The tournament will feature the United States, Canada, Sweden, and Finland.
The 4 Nations kicked off last night with Canada facing Sweden and today with the United States against Finland. The tournament will take place over nine days in Montreal and Boston from February 12-20th. The first half of the games will be in Montreal before everything shifts over to Boston for the second half of the tournament. It will be a round robin style with every team playing each other once, then the top two teams with the best records will face off in the championship game at the TD Garden in Boston.
Ideally, the tournament would include Russia and Czechia, as both countries would have strong teams to compete for the championship. However, Russia has been banned from International hockey, due to the war against Ukraine. Sadly, adding in Czechia would not make much sense, as a five team tournament would be difficult to format.
Hockey fans all over the world, even if their country isn’t participating are excited for this event. The 4 Nations Face Off will present a stage for the best players in the world to showcase their talent and skill at the international level for the first time in over nine years.
