The NHL departed from its traditional All-Star game format in 2025, instead hosting the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off.
The tournament played out like a miniature version of the Olympic competition, with players from around the league representing their home countries of the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden. After a round-robin stage, the top two teams met in the championship game.
Thursday’s final brought together traditional rivals in the United States and Canada. The U.S. had beaten Canada in their first matchup, the country’s first international win over Canada since 2010. But while Canada lost the early battle, that team won the war, as Connor McDavid netted an overtime goal to seal the victory — after a week of chatter from the U.S. side.
Sporting News breaks down how Canada’s Brad Marchand and Brandon Hagel trolled Team USA’s Matthew and Brady Tkachuk after the championship game.
MORE: Connor McDavid’s OT heroics win 4 Nations title for Canada
Brad Marchand, Brandon Hagel troll Tkachuk brothers
Brandon Hagel
The first meeting between the U.S. and Canada at 4 Nations started with fireworks: three fights within the first nine seconds of the game.
One fight featured Matthew Tkachuk taking on Brandon Hagel. The latter said that he thought the fights were “for the cameras” and that the Canadian players were instead “playing for the flag.” He also took a shot at the U.S. planning the fights on the team group chat, as Matthew Tkachuk claimed after the game.
“We don’t need to initiate anything,” Hagel said. “We don’t have any group chats going on. We’re going out there playing our game and then giving it everything and doing it for our country. We don’t need to initiate everything. We’re just going to play as hard as we can and do it for the flag on the chest.”
In a subsequent interview, Tkachuk clapped back that if Canada didn’t have any group chats, it could be that the team didn’t like each other.
Well, after the win, Hagel showed that a Team Canada group chat had been created.
Brandon Hagel starts a group chat 😂 pic.twitter.com/FFpUGWT0Iy
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) February 21, 2025
Brad Marchand
The 36-year-old Bruins captain also didn’t hold back his comments after the win. He talked about how the Tkachuk brothers “ran their mouths” during the week in the lead up to the game, noting: “Sometimes when you shoot your mouth off in the media, it bites you.”
After the United States’ first-round win over Canada, Matthew Tkachuk declared: “It’s our time now.”
Marchand referenced that after Canada’s championship win as well, saying: “They got a little bit ahead of themselves. But they’re great players. There’s not many guys in the league that do what they do, and they’re extremely effective. But when you start giving teams ammo, it can work against you.”
“Sometimes when you shoot your mouth off in the media, it bites you.” 👀
Brad Marchand didn’t hold back on his thoughts about the Tkachuk brothers comments throughout the week
(via @yaboiTCfresh) pic.twitter.com/fc6JFFjGn1
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 21, 2025
