He took Connor McDavid alone in the slot, a Mitch Marner pass, and an album beyond one of the best goalkeepers in the world so that an entire nation exhales.
No. 97 with the A in his sweater ended in extra time for Canada on Thursday night, ensuring the title of the Championship of confrontation of the 4 nations with a 3-2 victory over the Americans in the Boston TD garden.
Canadians could be the only people to lift the trophy of this unique tournament. But it certainly made no sense.
Beyond what victory meant for the country, there is much to take for the construction group of Canada’s male hockey team in the Olympic Games. Less than a year before the games open in Milano Cortina, where NHL players will return to the Olympic stage for the first time in more than a decade.
Here are four things that we learned in the confrontation of the 4 nations while looking towards the 2026 Olympic Games:
1. Leadership First
In December, when this list was announced, chief coach Jon Cooper said the leadership was a factor when deciding who would be in this team.
“You can never underestimate how much matters, when the game is at stake, when there are 20,000 people on the edge of your seat, who is under control in those situations?” said. “When perhaps a game slides, flows and flows and ups and downs of a hockey game, who are the players who know they have shown that they can excel in those situations and calm the waters?”
It was the current champion of the Stanley Cup, Sam Bennett, who tied in Thursday’s final in the second period, when Canada could have begun to panic, and the 2019 Cup champion Jordan Binnington shone on the network, even when People questioned whether the head of Canada should be.
And he was three times champion of the Cup and twice Olympic gold medalist Sidney Crosby, who led this team at all times.
The original team named in December had 20 Stanley Combined Cups in its curriculum.
No one knew in December how big the bets would be felt for this game, but it seems that the decision to prioritize that stability and experience were the right decision.
“Canada needed a victory, and the players did it on their shoulders and took it seriously,” Cooper said after Thursday’s victory. “This was different. This was not a victory for them. This was a victory for more than 40 million people. And the boys knew it, and they gave themselves.”
Look | Canada defeats us in the Scrappy hockey final after McDavid scores in OT:
The Canadians are celebrating a dramatic extra victory in the hockey tournament in front of the 4 nations in Boston, thanks to an extra time of the superstar of the Edmonton Oilers, Connor McDavid.
2. Canada’s start for 2026
When the list was named, much of the discussion was around the three Canada options in the goal: Binnington, Adin Hill and Sam Montembeault.
Meanwhile, the Americans had what seemed like a shame of wealth: Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman.
Binnington was tabulated as the head of game 1 and played every minute for Canada in this tournament. Although he won a cup with St. Louis in 2019, that decision caused some scrutiny. Could Binnington keep calm when the pressure increased?
The answer was yes. In extra time, Binnington made a salvation of highlights in Brady Tkachuk to keep his team alive. He seemed locked.
“There will always be that doubt,” Binnington told journalists after the game. “You have to use that as a motivation and find a way and believe in yourself and do the job.”
His performance makes things a little easier for the group that chooses team 2026. While Canada entered this tournament without a clear headline, the work would seem to be next year in Binnington.
Look | Jeff Marek in Playtending, and the goal that sealed the victory of the 4 Nations of Canada:
Jeff Marek, host of a hockey and podcast analyst, intervenes in the winning goal last final of the confrontation of 4 nations.
3. Integrating youth
The young Connor Bedard phenomenon was not in this team, but Canada’s brass spent time thinking about the “next” wave of players that could star Canada, with the best male hockey on the horizon.
With less than a year for the end, it feels like a difficult task for anyone to deactivate a member of this team, who has now built ties forged through gain for their country.
But the many can change and the injuries happen. Giving a player like Bedard the opportunity to adapt to Crosby, McDavid and Nathan Mackinnon in 2026 would be a true taste of the past, present and future of Canada.
Meanwhile, Seth Jarvis, 23, seemed dangerous throughout the ice in his minutes in the final after pushing his way back to the alignment.
4. A sample of what will come
Some people thought that the confrontation of the 4 nations would not have much weight for the players. They were not the Olympic Games and it wasn’t even a World Cup, simply a unique tournament.
But no one can doubt how much this tournament meant, both inside and outside the ice.
“When you go to the ice with this group and you are playing for your country and you have that opportunity, those are the things that you not only remember forever, but your family remembers forever and your whole country remembers forever,” go ahead. Brad Marchae said after the victory.
“This game, this tournament will be discussed for a long time.”
It was a sample of what will come in less than a year when NHL players return to the Olympic Games, and a reminder of what was lost because they did not have the best male international hockey for most of a decade.
It is not surprising that seeing the best is fun is fun, but perhaps some forgot how significant and intense it can be.
