by Tony Fiorello
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - FEBRUARY 20: The logo is seen on a jersey hanging in the locker room before the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship game between Team USA and Team Canada at TD Garden on February 20, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Ben Jackson/4NFO/World Cup of Hockey via Getty Images)
It’s the same old song and dance.
After Thursday night’s tournament-clinching victory in overtime by Canada over the United States, USA Hockey is now 2-7 versus Canada in best-on-best competition since their victory in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. Additionally, since 1991 Hockey Canada is 4-1 in winner-take-all games against their neighbors to the south in the Olympics, World Cup and now the Four Nations Face-Off.
There’s no other way to say it – that’s an unsightly blemish on Team USA. It must drive the team’s upper-management nuts that no matter how hard they try, they just haven’t been able to get over the hump when it matters the most against the Great White North (sort of like the Buffalo Bills’ lack of playoff success against the Kansas City Chiefs, but that’s another story for another day).
Unfortunately it took a blown coverage by Auston Matthews (how does one leave an opponent wide open like that in the slot, much less the best player in the world?) for Connor McDavid to score in extra time, but that’s hockey. It happens.
So Canada remains on top and McDavid gets his moment of glory on an international stage. But what are the bright sides emerging from the wreckage for America, and what should USA Hockey do now to learn from this loss? A few ideas from this corner:
· Find a way to get Matthews going. Matthews, a perennial 50-goal scorer for the Toronto Maple Leafs, looked lost for most of the tournament. Registering just one point and no goals, the man who is arguably the league’s best goal-scorer (Alex Ovechkin not withstanding) needs to figure out how to elevate his game when it matters the most – which has also been an issue for him and the Leafs in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
· Get more talent on the roster. It’s inexplicable that names such as Jason Robertson, Cole Caufield and Tage Thompson weren’t on the Americans’ team while Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and Brock Nelson were. All three of the latter names have had underwhelming seasons in 2024-25, so their inclusion by general manager Bill Guerin was baffling. Not dressing Kyle Connor for the deciding contest was also a head-scratcher by coach Mike Sullivan.
· Otherwise, stay the course. The USA has definitely closed the gap with Canada – the results from the two matchups in this tournament have proven that, and America was just a goal away from becoming victorious. Nothing radical or drastic needs to be done, just a few tweaks here and there should do the trick.
For now, all USA Hockey can do is learn from this loss and attempt to exact revenge next year at the Milan Olympics when the stakes are higher. But in the meantime it would be nice to take heed to those suggestions.
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