The 2010 Winter Olympics took place in the picturesque city of Vancouver, British Columbia. During the event, Canada took on rival United States in the group stage, suffering a 5-3 loss. Yet, the boys in red and white avenged their earlier loss in the gold medal match, defeating their North American neighbours 4-3 in overtime.
The game-winning goal became known as Crosby’s ‘golden goal.’
Fast forward almost 15 years to Thursday night. That day, Canada took on the United States in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off, a day forever etched in Canadian hockey history.
The 2025 Team Canada took a similar path as the team in 2010.
Two Saturdays ago, the Americans defeated the team 3-1 in Montreal, booking their ticket to the finals. The game felt more like Saturday Fight Night, as the historic hockey rivals put their deep-rooted hatred on display with three fights in the first nine seconds.
However, Thursday night was much different. The game had the same intensity as a game seven in the Stanley Cup finals.
Maritimer and Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring within the first five minutes, blasting the puck past American keeper Connor Hellebuyck.
The U.S. took a 2-1 lead midway through the second, on the strength of goals from Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson. Sam Bennett then tied the game late in the second for Canada.
No scoring in the third gave way to yet another Canada-U.S. overtime moment.
It took a tense eight minutes into overtime for Mitch Marner to find Connor McDavid all alone in the slot. McDavid put the puck top cheddar past Hellebuyck, sealing the Canadian gold medal victory.
I guess we could refer to the next generation’s ‘golden goal’ as McDavid’s magic snipe.
Canada took the game 3-2, capturing their fourth straight international best-on-best hockey championship. MacKinnon was named the tournament’s MVP.
“Just to see the reaction. Just to know what it means to us. I know it’s just a quick tournament and it’s not an Olympic gold medal or anything like that, but it means the world to our group, as you can see,” McDavid told reporters after the game.
“It’s a great game, it’s a great sport and I hope we put on a good show these last couple of days and gained some fans, ultimately. You can’t ask for a better show than that.”
In the 4 Nations finals, Canada had their big guns on display.
MacKinnon, McDavid, Marner and Cale Makar all registered a point. But you must look further than the stat sheet to see who made a difference, in terms of playing the best for their country when the lights shone the brightest.
Enter Jordan Binnington, Canada’s guardian of the crease.
Binnington played shaky in the preliminary round for the country. He won two of his three tournament starts, finishing with a sub .890 save percentage.
On top of that, he repeatedly let Canada’s opponents find a way back into games. Binnington’s lacklustre performances earned him a permanent spot in Canada’s bad books, myself included.
However, all that changed through his spectacular play in the finals.
The Richmond Hill native played lights out, particularly in the third period and overtime. Binnington faced several high-danger chances, some coming off the sticks of the best shooters in the National Hockey League. Yet, he did not flinch in any of these stressful situations, saving shots from all angles and keeping his country in the game.
In the end, Binnington finished with 31 saves on 33 shots.
“It’s different from the Stanley Cup,” Binnington told reporters post-game. “That’s a long journey. This is shorter. This is different but it’s just as powerful. And I mean, I’m personally just so grateful.”
“That’s what sports are all about in some ways. As an athlete and a competitor, there are always going to be doubters. You’ve got to use that as motivation and find a way and believe in yourself that you’ll get the job done.”
Binnington must love playing meaningful hockey at TD Garden in Boston. He had an almost identical performance in the building during game seven of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins, where he finished with 32 saves on 33 shots clinching a Stanley Cup victory.
More than a game
Thursday’s final was more than a hockey game for some. Instead, the event had a much larger importance, thanks to promises of tariffs and sovereignty questions by U.S. President Donald Trump.
On repeated occasions, Trump has threatened to annex Canada, making it the ‘51st state.’
Additionally, Trump has the intention to impose 25 per cent tariffs on most goods that enter the U.S. from Canada.
Before the game, Trump took to social media to voice his opinion. He said he would not be in attendance for the game, but he said he would be calling his “GREAT American hockey team to spur them towards victory,” calling Canada the “Fifty First State” and inviting “Governor” Justin Trudeau to watch the game with him.
In addition, American fans booed when Chantal Kreviazuk sang her rendition of Oh Canada. The hostile nature of the fans in Boston mirrored what had happened in Montreal during the preliminary round when Canadians booed The Star Spangled Banner.
With everything that happened leading up to the game, Canada still defeated the red, white and blue. The win led Trudeau to take a jab at Trump on social media.
“You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game,” Trudeau said on X.
Looking ahead
With the 4 Nations in the rearview mirror, all eyes are on the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Canada has the chance to bring back many on the 4 Nations roster to Milan, Italy next February.
This is because the games will be the first time since 2014 in Sochi that NHLers can take part in the Olympic games. Canada defeated Sweden to take home the gold that year.
As of right now, who will wear the maple leaf in Italy is still very much up in the air.
All we can do is sit back with a bag of ketchup chips and see how the second half of the NHL season unfolds.
