Ducks players excited by reception of 4 Nations Face-Off, eager for more

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The United States and Canada will be the two nations facing off for the highly anticipated championship of the 4 Nations Face-Off on Thursday night in Boston to cap a tournament that has quickly captured the hearts and minds of hockey fans and earned mountains of exposure in the greater sports landscape.

It had been nine years since NHL players had played in an international best-on-best competition of any kind, and ahead of the return of NHL players to the Olympics in one year at the 2026 Games in Italy, the league fashioned this exhibition tournament in place of this year’s All-Star festivities.

What the NHL and the sport has received is more than it could’ve imagined with record television ratings for hockey in the United States, as fans have taken in games that have been faster, more physical and more intense than any All-Star exhibition could have provided.

“There’s nothing like playing for your country, and you can just see it in all of their demeanors and how they're approaching the game,” American Ducks forward Troy Terry said. “Just as a fan of the game, I don't think we knew how intense it was gonna be. We're all on break, and it's kind of an exhibition setup, but to just see how committed they are–I mean, the U.S.-Canada game the other day–and I think it's been great for the game of hockey.”

That U.S.A.-Canada round robin game last Saturday in Montreal was the peak of what the tournament had provided. The game featured three fights in the first nine seconds of the game, as the heated rivalry returned to the best-on-best international stage. U.S.A. beat Canada, 3-1, for the first best-on-best loss for the Canadians since the 2010 Olympics, where the United States also beat Canada in the group stage.

The result, along with the background of current politics between the two countries, sets the stage for an intense 4 Nations Face-Off championship on Thursday.

“The Canada-U.S. game was nuts,” American Ducks forward Trevor Zegras said. “The fighting in the nine seconds was crazy. I don't think there was a better spot to have it than the Bell Centre, so I think the whole thing kind of came together nicely. It’s amazing how much recognition the tournament is getting compared to what all the other sports are doing, so I thought that was cool.”

The United States-Canada game drew 10.1 million total viewers across both countries, which was a 203% increase from the last best-on-best game between the two countries at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and more than any non-Stanley Cup Final game since 2014.

The ESPN/ABC broadcast in the United States drew 4.4 million viewers, which was more than every game except Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final and more than every game of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final. The broadcast also beat out the NBA All-Star Saturday Night skills competition viewership (3.9 million on TNT/truTV) to make it the most-watched sporting event of the day.

Across the United States and Canada, the tournament averaged 4.6 million viewers, which is a 226% jump from the average North American audience of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

The numbers make clear the hunger from sports fans of all kinds for international best-on-best hockey, and the intensity of the games make it clear from the players’ end of things.

“I think guys have been wound up to play in that style of a tournament for so long,” Canadian Ducks forward Mason McTavish said. “I think any time you put on your national flag there's a sense of pride and honor that you just kind of get a little extra bump. You do anything you can to play as well as you can.”

All of that is why the NHL announced last week the return of the World Cup of Hockey, starting in 2028. NHL players will begin a rotation of two-year intervals between these kind of tournaments beginning with the 2026 Olympics in Milan, followed by the 2028 World Cup, then the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps and a 2032 World Cup after that.

When the NHL players weren't in the Olympics, Terry and Drew Helleson represented the United States as college players at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and 2022 Beijing Olympics, respectively, and McTavish represented Canada as a junior player at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Other players like Lukáš Dostál (Czechia) have represented their countries at World Championships, but that tournament takes place during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which means a country’s best players are often unavailable.

However, only four current Ducks have now played in international best-on-best competitions and only two have actually represented their country. Americans John Gibson and Jacob Trouba were part of Team North America, which gathered the best under-23 players from the United States and Canada to fill out the 2016 World Cup with teams of NHL-level players.

Representing their actual country at that level is Leo Carlsson, who played for Sweden at this 4 Nations Face-Off, and Radko Gudas, who represented Czechia at the 2014 Sochi Olympics–the last time NHL players were in the Olympic Games.

Gudas, who was selected to the Czech team at the 2016 World Cup but did not participate due to injury, is happy to see the return of the tournament, which will feature at least eight international teams but no more conglomerate or miscellaneous teams like Team North America and Team Europe.

“I think that was one of the nicer tournaments the NHL did for the internationals,” Gudas said. “I know a lot of guys really enjoyed it, so I think that would be a good experience again for a lot of guys to be able to play against each other on the international level. It’s pretty cool that the World Cup is coming back.”

The Ducks captain spoke glowingly about his Olympic experience and understood the appetite players have for these best-on-best tournaments after being without it for so long.

“We get to play against the legends, against the best players, so it was a pretty cool experience,” Gudas said. “Then not going to two Olympics in a row, a lot of guys wanted to give it a try, wanted to give it a shot or wanted to see how it feels and what the experience is. Sochi was a great experience for me and I wish whoever can make that team enjoys it as much as I did.”

Anaheim held practices on Tuesday and Wednesday and flew to Boston on Thursday ahead of the 4 Nations championship and their return to action against the Bruins on Saturday. Carlsson waited in Boston for the team after the conclusion of his Sweden schedule on Monday.

Zegras and other American and Canadian players were looking to get tickets to the game, and those that don’t get tickets will likely watch together, although no official bets had been made between the various countrymen.