NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off shoots, scores in the ratings

Sets stage for heated U.S.-Canada battle tonight – and has a unique connection to an event in the same building 28 years ago 

[This post was updated February 15 at 11:55 p.m.] 

Even though this writer had no interest whatsoever (until they started fighting nine seconds into the U.S./Canada game Saturday)  in a contrived quick cash-grab tournament (which is working very well) by a league that doesn’t know anything about marketing a sport (until last week) run by an idiot commissioner (he still is) who makes Mayor Brandon Johnson look like he’s the smartest politician in the world (whom somehow did commentary at a CPS High School Girls’ final Saturday for some strange reason, which made me long for John Schriffen and Tom Brady), this isn’t the consensus elsewhere – especially in Canada as the 4 Nations Face-Off is a smash hit on both sides of the border. 

The NHL decided to permanently shelve its All-Star Game and create a mid-season tournament featuring four countries: Finland, Sweden, Canada, and the United States. The tournament would rotate with the World Cup of Hockey (returning in 2028) and NHL players returning to the Winter Olympics in 2026. 

The first two games have been smash hits with critics and audiences. Wednesday night’s Canada-Sweden matchup drew one million viewers for TNT and Thursday’s ESPN telecast between the U.S. and Finland drew 1.55 million viewers, not only making it the highest-rated hockey telecast this season but also outperforming this year’s disastrous Winter Classic, beating an NBA game head-to-head, and is the highest-rated hockey game in two years, including every All-Star Game since 2020. 

Canadian ratings were not available, but there is every reason to believe the tournament (airing on SportsNet and TVA) could draw the biggest audiences of the year north of the border—possibly even more than the Super Bowl. Canadian viewers were in no mood to watch, and ratings fell by nearly two million viewers from last year despite setting an audience record in the United States. 

That’s because relations between the two countries have soured in recent weeks after President Trump imposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Since then, fans in Canadian arenas in the NHL and NBA have booed the U.S. anthem at sporting events, and fans in the U.S. have booed the Canadian anthem whenever a Canadian team plays south of the border. It’s nothing new; in 1993, Phillies fans booed the Canadian anthem at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia when the Toronto Blue Jays were in the World Series; Canadian fans did likewise to the U.S. anthem on numerous occasions, especially in Montreal where the Face-Off is taking place at the Bell Centre.

The very building the teams will play in tonight on ABC was also home to the 1997 WWE Survivor Series, where a U.S. vs. Canada storyline resulted in the real-life Montreal Screwjob with Canadian wrestler Bret Hart getting “screwed” by then-WWE boss Vince McMahon, losing the WWE title to Shawn Michaels (who desecrated the Canadian flag in the ring at the show) after agreeing to do so – but not in Canada after Hart signed a deal with now-defunct rival WCW, documented brilliantly in Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows documentary. The storyline featured Hart trashing the U.S., resulting in American fans booing him and the Canadian anthem, directing all kinds of hate at him. On the other hand, Hart was cheered in Canadian arenas (though, some Canadian fans at Survivor Series were booing Hart as word leaked about his impending departure for WCW.) A near riot occurred outside the arena as fans went after Michaels and his entourage. 

The U.S. anthem has been a touchy subject in recent years, even in these parts; in 2016, then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the anthem before a preseason game to protest injustice and police brutality which led Trump and other conservatives to call him out, and more athletes followed after George Floyd was murdered in 2020. 

The 4 Nations Face-Off shifts to Boston next week, where the two teams with the most points will play each other for the championship on February 20 on ESPN, where in all likelihood, you’ll see the U.S. and Canada play each other again. You can say the political standoff between the two countries has added quite the storyline to attract fans and viewers – not unlike Hart and Michaels in the WWE 28 years ago. 

[An earlier draft incorrectly stated the CBC was carrying the 4 Nations Face-Off.]