Canada has once again proven itself to be the ultimate champion of international ice hockey. In a thrilling final match that took place on 20 February 2025 against the USA, the team claimed another victory and defeated the US team by 3-2 in overtime.
The match was particularly significant because the US had previously defeated Canada by a leading score of 3-1 during the round-robin stage and also marked the return of NHL players after 9 long years. The tournament started on 12 February and the finals were played at 8 PM ET yesterday 20 February.
Team Canada has been the most successful in international ice hockey as they bagged six events after the Canada Cup including the two titles of the World Cup of Hockey. Canada was the defending champion of the title and they showed their glamour again after winning the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off title.
The match also attracted a large audience with high viewership ratings of 10.1 million reported during the match. The tension in the game was also elevated because of US President Donald Trump’s remark about calling Canada the “51st state” so it was a matter of national pride for the team to win this much-needed match.
Connor McDavid, a key player whored the winning goal shared his excitement and said, “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. Everybody battled so hard all week. It was special.”
Kurt Rusell, a US player expressed his disappointment and shared, “We showed we can compete with Canada at this level, and that’s something to build on for the future,”
An ESPN analyst, Ray Ferraro said, “This far exceeded anything that I thought possible. This was a remarkable 10 days. The US was fantastic in the tournament. Canada ends up winning it in overtime. Just a wonderful spectacle for this great game.”
This day would go down in history as Canada continues to prove why they are the ice-hockey legends. Now it will be interesting to see both teams’ performance in the World Cup of Hockey which is set to be organised in 2028.
