A History of the 4 Nations FAQ

The 4 Nations Face-Off is officially underway after Wednesday’s opening night thriller saw Canada top Sweden 4-3 in OT.

Victor Hedman and Team Sweden battled tough. Canada’s top power play unit of the Gods lived up to the hype. Bolts players on both sides found the score sheet.

Safe to say, so far so good—and we’ve only scratched the surface. There are levels to these teams that go deeper than the names on the back of their jerseys. National pride, ancient-old rivalries and levels of skill we haven’t seen share the ice competitively in quite some time.

No international tournament has sparked this much intrigue and curiosity in almost a decade. So for those catching up, allow us to answer some frequently asked questions regarding the 4 Nations tournament, its deep well of talent and the history of its countries’ competition.

First things first, do hockey fans get to witness this level of competition often?

The 4 Nations Face-Off is the first best-on-best competition since the World Cup of Hockey 2016. The NHL didn’t pause for the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics. So for many of today’s brightest stars, like Connor McDavid for instance, this is their first time lacing up the skates against and alongside the world’s A-teams on the international stage. And McDavid has three Hart Trophies! So short answer: it’s been a while.

What are the biggest international rivalries to look forward to in this thing?

Not a lot of love between USA-Canada. Same goes for Sweden-Finland.

Tell me more about the USA-Canada clash. Feels like the hockey history might be a bit lopsided there.

USA and Canada first faced off on the Olympic stage at the 1920 Antwerp games, with Canada defeating the U.S. 2-0 in the semifinal round on their way to gold. Here’s the Wikipedia photo of Team Canada, represented by the 1920 Winnipeg Falcons and an astounding number of three-piece suits and apple caps.

The Instagram arrival shots would have been downright spiffy back then.

The U.S. wouldn’t defeat Canada until the 1960 Winter Olympics. And of course, the Americans beat them on their way to the renowned “Miracle on Ice” in 1980. They also took victories over Canada in several best-on-best World Cups in the 90s and 2000s. But unsurprisingly, Canada kind of owns this rivalry. On the Men’s Olympic stage alone, the two countries have played each other 19 times, with the U.S. winning only four of those games.

Update 2/14: After last night's 6-1 win over Finland—in which the Tkachuk brothers and Jake Guentzel lit the ice on fire in the third period—the U.S. gained a one-point advantage over Canada in the standings. Their Saturday night matchup in Montreal now has all the drama and high stakes you want in a rivalry of this magnitude.

What about Sweden-Finland?

The two countries sit side-by-side geographically, and it’s often a cause for national celebration when one nation beats the other. It’s a century-old strife that can get chippy on the ice. And this rivalry has met in some big-time games, too, especially as of late.

Sweden led a massive 5-1 comeback to beat Finland 6-5 in the 2003 World Championship quarterfinal. And at the 2006 Turin Olympics, the Swedes—led by Peter Forsberg, Nicklas Lidström, Daniel Alfredsson and more NHL greats—defeated Finland 3-2 in the final to take gold.

The Swedes like to call themselves the big brother of the sibling rivalry, but don’t count Finland out of a chance at 4 Nations glory.

“Maybe you could compare it to USA-Canada, but I think for us it's even more,” Finland GM Jere Lehtinen told NHL.com. “For us, we've kind of been underdogs over the years, but I think we've kind of turned the corner the past 15 years…Sweden's a bigger country than us but we've started to level things out. Sometimes in sports and in hockey, that happens. In this rivalry, it's time to level things up."

The puck drops for Finland vs. Sweden at 1 p.m. this Saturday.

How will the gameplay at 4 Nations look compared to the average NHL game?

This is the most absurd level of hockey you will see on your television screen in a long time. These are real-life create-a-teams featuring the highest ratings and attributes the game has to offer. If you watched the first ten minutes of Wednesday night’s Canada-Finland matchup, you probably thought someone spiked your nighttime tea with Four Loko. When asked if this is the highest level of hockey he’s seen, the Lightning’s Victor Hedman called back to the best competition he’s been involved with.

These rosters do look stacked. Is there an especially terrifying lineup to keep our eyes on?

Canada’s top power play unit of Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Cale Makar and Sam Reinhart could send hockey fans into the second plane of enlightenment every time they touch the ice. Defenses tasked with stopping that line should receive a national medal of honor simply for their efforts.

Are any players using the 4 Nations Face-Off as a primer for next year’s Olympics?

Yes! The 2026 Winter Olympics will feature best-on-best hockey for the first time in a long time. Many players have spoken on the importance of playing well this week, including the Lightning's very own Brandon Hagel.

"This tournament is great; I get the opportunity to go out there and prove myself potentially for that tournament," Canada forward Brandon Hagel said. "I mean, listen, there's 23 of us that get the opportunity to prove yourself for that. That might mean nothing, but it could mean something."

Is there a G.O.A.T. international team among the 4 Nations countries?

There’s a solid case to be made for 2014’s Team Canada, which beat all of its Olympic opponents and limited Sweden to just 24 shots in the gold medal game. Its Olympic resume is arguably the best of the NHL era, and featured the likes of Sidney Crosby, Patrick Marleau, Drew Doughty and Roberto Luongo. And yet, if you take a look at that team’s roster, you might find yourself wondering if a couple of squads from this tournament could at least give them a run for their money. And you wouldn’t sound crazy! That’s how deep the talent runs in 2025.

What about NHL rivalries? Will those be put to bed now that many of them are in the same locker room?

These guys seem to have an easy time putting their differences aside when it comes to representing their countries. Lightning fans have been embroiled with Brad Marchand’s tongue for years. (An actual sentence I just typed into my laptop.) But the Bruins captain looks to have found some real chemistry with Bolts center Brayden Point, as displayed by the duo’s flawless breakout in the first period of Wednesday's opener.

Victor Hedman will also be putting his Toronto sports-hate on hiatus while he lines up with fellow Swede William Nylander, and so forth.

Is there a favorite to win the tournament?

As of this writing, the USA and Canada are co-favorites to win the champsionship at +150. Sweden is right behind them at +450 and Finland is +1000. But the 4 Nations could easily come down to grit and a little bit of luck in such a small sample size of games. Anybody can beat anybody in 60 minutes of hockey.

So basically, this should all make for a pretty good time?

It’s been a recurring theme all week at 4 Nations: there’s not a greater honor in sports than representing the crest on your home country’s uniform. You hear it in the player interviews. And now, you see it in the legitimate effort and ridiculous skill on display in Montreal and eventually in Boston. Hop on the 4 Nations fun train now, there’s plenty of room for everyone.