Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon are ready for Team Canada’s rematch with the USA.
The 4 Nations championship matchup is set as Canada will look to avenge a round-robin loss to the Americans on Thursday. This time, it will be for all the marbles as the winner of the next game will walk away with the title.
Canada has been led by the three-headed dragon of Crosby, MacKinnon and McDavid at this tournament. Those three have combined for a total of 12 points through three round-robin games.
Crosby, who captains this Canadian squad, is confident his team can find another level against the USA.
“You look at the last game, the intensity, both teams got to know each other pretty well, pretty quickly,” Crosby told reporters. “It’ll be a great challenge.”
A storyline throughout the entire tournament has been the Nova Scotia connection between Crosby and MacKinnon. Those two have played on a forward line throughout most of the tournament up to this point.
MacKinnon echoed Crosby’s sentiment that this Canadian team was not ready to give up after one hard-fought loss to the Americans in round robin.
“The last thing we wanted to do was go home,” MacKinnon said. “We feel like we can beat [the Americans] and we plan on playing a little better on Thursday.”
All Canadian head coach Jon Cooper needs to do to believe that this Canadian team can find a way to defeat the United States is to look down his bench. He specifically had high praise for Crosby, who remains an idol to many of the Canadian players on this team.
“He’s a true inspiration to all the young guys in our locker room and even older guys,” Cooper said. “In our country, he walks on water.”
“In our country, he walks on water… and he is as humble as they come.”
Jon Cooper on what Sidney Crosby means to Team Canada.#4Nations pic.twitter.com/bpGkVXpdZD
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) February 17, 2025
The last game between the USA and Canada was a tight-checking affair that resulted in not a lot of chances being had for either side.
Yet, it was the opportunistic Americans who were able to solve Canada’s Jordan Binnington twice in the game. Once they had the lead, they locked it down and snuffed out Canada’s comeback bid with an empty-netter in the final minutes.
McDavid was the lone Canadian goalscorer in that game and while he is happy that Canada was able to secure a rematch, he isn’t getting too ahead of himself.
“Really exciting obviously, but it’s still a ways away,” McDavid told Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas. “Enjoy this one and we’ll be ready for a big one on Thursday.”
It’s unclear whether or not this rematch will also start with three straight fights off the opening draw, but no matter what happens, it is sure to be a memorable game.
