Detroit captain Dylan Larkin will center Team USA’s third line, alongside J.T. Miller and Matt Boldy, as the Americans battle Canada for Four Nations Face-Off supremacy this evening (8 PM EST start on ESPN/Sportsnet/TVA Sports), and the pre-game hype has begun at 8 in the morning:
TODAY'S THE DAY 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/AEtFkOY1Fz
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 20, 2025
Here are tonight’s game notes:
As you might imagine, the Canadian Press is already playing up the political tensions between the U.S. and Canada right now, but Larkin told the CP that the rivalry is an organic one:
U.S. forward Dylan Larkin said any bad blood is more about NHL players taking part in a high-level international competition for the first time since the 2016 World Cup. The league missed the last two Olympics, but is poised to return to sports’ brightest spotlight in 12 months.
“We’ve all grown up playing against Canadians, playing against Canada at minor hockey tournaments, going over the border,” he said. “That rivalry starts from a young age. As an American, you learn to not like playing against Canadians. I’m sure every guy in Canada will say the same about Americans.”
I am of course a proud American, so I’m rooting for my home country and “my team’s” captain, but I love Canada and Canadians, too, so today I put aside my respect for our brother nation and try to dislike our neighbors.
I hope that the majority of the TD Garden fans respect the Canadian anthem and don’t boo a sovereign country’s song (let’s save the, “Why have an anthem at the start of sports games at all?” debate for another day), and when the puck drops…
It’s business, and a matter of winning the game. It’s not about beating down a country for political gain; it’s about Larkin getting to lift that Four Nations Face-Off trophy when the game is over.
