The first best-on-best game between the United States and Canada in nearly a decade started with more animosity than anyone could have predicted.
Three fights occurred within the first nine seconds of the first period. The instigators were the USA’s tandem of Tkachuk brothers, Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk. Referees assessed 17 minutes of penalties before 10 seconds were off the clock, and 21 PIMs were called in the first period overall.
Matthew Tkachuk began the fight night, dropping his mitts with Brandon Hagel right after the opening faceoff. The two players traded blows with Hagel ending on top of the takedown.
Brady followed his brother to the sin bin just one second after the next faceoff in the neutral zone. The younger Tkachuk found a dance partner in Sam Bennett, his older brother’s teammate with the Florida Panthers. Tkachuk got the better of the second fight, manhandling the smaller Bennett and wrestling him to the ice.
Matthew could be seen slapping the glass and screaming for his little brother as he won his fight. Brady and Matthew then embraced each other at the penalty box opening in an incredible moment. The two brothers are playing for the United States national team together for the first time and this marked their first game against Team Canada side-by-side.
As the first four fighters served their majors, the game saw its first shot on goal, which Jordan Binnington covered in Canada’s net. The ensuing netfront scrum sparked the third fight as JT Miller and Colton Parayko exchanged face punches. The much larger Parayko slung Miller around and ultimately took the decision. Miller received an extra minor penalty for cross-checking on the play.
The Tkachuk brothers’ contributions to the melee could have been inspired by what their father got up to against Canada in 1996. Keith Tkachuk dropped his gloves against Canada’s Claude Lemieux in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, which the USA eventually won.
Like Father, Like Sons…
1996: Keith Tkachuk v. Claude Lemieux
2025: Brady and Matthew Tkachuk v. Sam Bennett and Brandon Hagel pic.twitter.com/O89xoW2TXT— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 16, 2025
Once the actual play in the first began, scoring eventually opened up. Connor McDavid potted a goal for Canada at the 5:31 mark of the period, and Jake Guentzel responded for the USA 4:44 later.
“I didn’t think anything in my wildest dreams could top what happened on the intro,” Canada’s head coach Jon Cooper told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. “But, it happened. It was crazy.
“Two passionate teams,” Cooper continued. “This has been a long time waiting 10 years. These guys have waited for this. You could tell that this is not an All-Star game. This is a battle of the best of the best. It’s so fun to be a part of it.”
The two nations could match up again in this round-robin tournament if they both collect enough points to play in the final at Boston’s TD Garden on February 20.
