Of Four Nations Face-Off-related note from one Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin:
- Larkin spoke with Sportsnet’s Eric Engels about the unique opportunity to play “best-on-best hockey” that the Four Nations Face-Off provides…
Dylan Larkin thought this opportunity would arise many times since suiting up for that U23 NA squad in 2016. But with the NHL skipping the 2018 and ’22 Winter Olympics, the wait has felt interminable.
“I think Team North America was a cool experience, and we were all young and in the same part of our lives and whatnot,” the 28-year-old said. “But you look at it, there’s a lot of guys on that team — most of us that made that team probably — that would’ve been able to make Team USA and represent our country, and that means a lot, and it would’ve been a great experience. Luckily, we’re back here and playing 4 Nations…”
Fortunately for hockey fans, [Saturday’s USA-Canada game] could be the best game we’ve ever seen, precipitating several of the best ones ever thanks to the agreement between the NHL and NHLPA to continue sending players to the Olympics and revive the World Cup. It makes Saturday’s game the first page in a new and most exhilarating chapter in the rich history between Canada and USA.
2. Larkin also addressed the hype of the U.S.-Canada rivalry with ESPN’s Kristen Shilton…
The storied USA-Canada hockey rivalry will be reintroduced — and reignited — when the two countries take center stage at the 4 Nations Face-Off on Saturday night.
It can’t be defined as an ordinary game — not for players who have waited a lifetime to be part of best-on-best hockey against their nation’s greatest on-ice foe.
“This one’s a big one, the biggest of my career,” USA forward Dylan Larkin said. “Just watching [international games] as a kid with my family, it’s like a holiday, it’s like the Super Bowl for us. To be able to be a part of it, on a Saturday night in Montreal, it’s perfect. It’s just great.”
3. And Larkin offered this to NHL.com’s Bill Price about the Americans’ role as the “villain” team in Montreal on Saturday night:
Besides [Auston] Matthews and [Charlie] McAvoy, who are not only Americans but play for rivals of the Montreal Canadiens, the two biggest villains for the U.S. team are brothers Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk. They’re pretty much viewed that way around the entire NHL for their abrasive style of play, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Those guys have a tendency to drag others into the fight,” U.S. forward Dylan Larkin said. “If they say something, they play a certain way, they’re going to drag us all into that, and that’s great. That’s great for our group.”
Update: One more from NHL.com’s Dan Rosen:
Dylan Larkin was talking about what makes the Canada-United States hockey rivalry so special.
He mentioned the history of it, games he watched as a kid such as the 2010 Olympic gold-medal game and New Year’s Eve battles at the World Juniors. He brought up getting together as a family as if it were a holiday, every time treating a U.S.-Canada game as their Super Bowl.
Then, in that moment as he was speaking Friday, it was almost as if Larkin, the U.S. forward from Waterford, Michigan, realized where he was, and where he will soon be.
“To be able to be a part of it Saturday night in Montreal,” Larkin said, “it’s perfect.”
