As someone who was lucky enough to travel and cover the Edmonton Oilers on their path to the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals, I have been in my fair share of loud barns.
When the crowd was screaming in the final few minutes of Game 6 against Dallas, I thought I was going to go deaf.
When the Oilers were finishing the job in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final and forcing a seventh game, I could feel the ground below me shaking.
Hell, even when the Florida Panthers won Game 7 and sealed up their Stanley Cup, I admired how loud the pop of the crowd was.
None of that compares to what I experienced on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
The Star Spangled Banner was booed from start to finish in Montréal ahead of Team USA 🇺🇸 facing Team Canada 🇨🇦 at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/4Nations?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#4Nations</a>. <a href="https://t.co/IdAe65LK8D">pic.twitter.com/IdAe65LK8D</a>
&mdash; Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) <a href="https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1890935528716968391?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
From walking into the arena, you could just feel the energy. This had all the feelings of a winner-take-all type of game and yet, what was really on the line? No Stanley Cup, no Olympic Gold Medal, hell, there wasn’t even a spot in the finals on the line tonight. Either team could have lost and still made it.
But that’s what makes this rivalry so special. Every single player on the ice and every single fan in the building simply wanted to prove that our guys are better than your guys.
Maybe it was the energy on a Saturday night in one of the most iconic arenas in the sport. Maybe it was the fact that the players had been deprived of this rivalry for the better part of a decade. Maybe it was the political undertones that were present. There was just a feeling in the arena. 
The energy was unbelievable right from the moment they opened the doors… and then the puck dropped.
First, it was a good Mornville boy in Brandon Hagel who went toe-to-toe against Matt Tkachuk the second the game began. 
I was stunned. It honestly took me a few seconds to fully comprehend the moment I was a part of.
The fight was wild enough but to see both player react the way they did after was stunning. Both basically skating full laps around their sides of the ice to fire up their teams.
I’ve never seen two players react that way to a fight and honestly, I’m not sure if I ever will.
The buzz in the arena never had a chance to die down because just seconds later, it was Matthew’s brother Brady squaring off against Sam Bennett.
“Holy shit” is honestly the only thing going through my head.
A fight that had just as much raw emotion and the image of Brady dapping up his brother on his march to the box and then shoving a pane of glass so hard that it damn nearly snapped in half. That’s an all-time hockey image.
After that, I turned to my colleague Matt Larkin in the press box and said: “I think they’re ready to play hockey now.&#8221; 
I was wrong.
JT Miller went onto the ice with one thing in mind: joining his teammates in the Bell Centre penalty box. He dropped his mitts without a partner in mind and I guess unlucky for him, the one who obliged is 6’7 St. Albert product Colton Parayko.
The third fight had the rink screaming just as loud as the first fight. It was absolute pandemonium.
Not only were we three fights deep in a matter of seconds, but Canada was on the powerplay as the refs seemingly wanted to send a message that any fight that happens, was going to come with an extra two-minute minor.
Starting with that man advantage, the theme of the night shifted for Canada. The next 59 minutes was more or less all about missed opportunities.
We got a beautiful moment from Connor McDavid in a Team Canada jersey, which we’ve waited so long for. But aside from that? There wasn’t a lot of good happening in the offensive zone.
Double-clutches. Dusting off the puck. Indecisiveness in moments where they needed to trust their instincts.
Canada’s biggest strength coming into this tournament was their ability to produce offence and they just didn’t do enough of that.
Could Jordan Binnington have saved one of the two goals? Sure, but he also made some big stops in the third period to keep the game close.
Canada has the ability to basically always have one of Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby or Nathan MacKinnon on the ice and they only produced one goal. That just can’t happen.
The Americans played structured, were opportunistic, and didn’t seem rattled once. As the Bell Centre roared in the third period, they stayed cool and calm.
They also have the best goalie of this generation between the pipes, which is a luxury Canada just doesn’t have.
So Team USA wins the biggest game of the decade but as McDavid pointed out after the game, this thing isn’t over yet.
A rematch next Thursday in Boston? Who wouldn’t love that?

As someone who was lucky enough to travel and cover the Edmonton Oilers on their path to the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals, I have been in my fair share of loud barns.

When the crowd was screaming in the final few minutes of Game 6 against Dallas, I thought I was going to go deaf.

When the Oilers were finishing the job in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final and forcing a seventh game, I could feel the ground below me shaking.

Hell, even when the Florida Panthers won Game 7 and sealed up their Stanley Cup, I admired how loud the pop of the crowd was.

None of that compares to what I experienced on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal.



https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1890935528716968391

From walking into the arena, you could just feel the energy. This had all the feelings of a winner-take-all type of game and yet, what was really on the line? No Stanley Cup, no Olympic Gold Medal, hell, there wasn’t even a spot in the finals on the line tonight. Either team could have lost and still made it.

But that’s what makes this rivalry so special. Every single player on the ice and every single fan in the building simply wanted to prove that our guys are better than your guys.

Maybe it was the energy on a Saturday night in one of the most iconic arenas in the sport. Maybe it was the fact that the players had been deprived of this rivalry for the better part of a decade. Maybe it was the political undertones that were present. There was just a feeling in the arena. 

The energy was unbelievable right from the moment they opened the doors… and then the puck dropped.

First, it was a good Mornville boy in Brandon Hagel who went toe-to-toe against Matt Tkachuk the second the game began. 

I was stunned. It honestly took me a few seconds to fully comprehend the moment I was a part of.

The fight was wild enough but to see both player react the way they did after was stunning. Both basically skating full laps around their sides of the ice to fire up their teams.

I’ve never seen two players react that way to a fight and honestly, I’m not sure if I ever will.

The buzz in the arena never had a chance to die down because just seconds later, it was Matthew’s brother Brady squaring off against Sam Bennett.

“Holy shit” is honestly the only thing going through my head.

A fight that had just as much raw emotion and the image of Brady dapping up his brother on his march to the box and then shoving a pane of glass so hard that it damn nearly snapped in half. That’s an all-time hockey image.

After that, I turned to my colleague Matt Larkin in the press box and said: “I think they’re ready to play hockey now." 

I was wrong.

JT Miller went onto the ice with one thing in mind: joining his teammates in the Bell Centre penalty box. He dropped his mitts without a partner in mind and I guess unlucky for him, the one who obliged is 6’7 St. Albert product Colton Parayko.

The third fight had the rink screaming just as loud as the first fight. It was absolute pandemonium.

Not only were we three fights deep in a matter of seconds, but Canada was on the powerplay as the refs seemingly wanted to send a message that any fight that happens, was going to come with an extra two-minute minor.

Starting with that man advantage, the theme of the night shifted for Canada. The next 59 minutes was more or less all about missed opportunities.

We got a beautiful moment from Connor McDavid in a Team Canada jersey, which we’ve waited so long for. But aside from that? There wasn’t a lot of good happening in the offensive zone.

Double-clutches. Dusting off the puck. Indecisiveness in moments where they needed to trust their instincts.

Canada’s biggest strength coming into this tournament was their ability to produce offence and they just didn’t do enough of that.

Could Jordan Binnington have saved one of the two goals? Sure, but he also made some big stops in the third period to keep the game close.

Canada has the ability to basically always have one of Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby or Nathan MacKinnon on the ice and they only produced one goal. That just can’t happen.

The Americans played structured, were opportunistic, and didn’t seem rattled once. As the Bell Centre roared in the third period, they stayed cool and calm.

They also have the best goalie of this generation between the pipes, which is a luxury Canada just doesn’t have.

So Team USA wins the biggest game of the decade but as McDavid pointed out after the game, this thing isn’t over yet.

A rematch next Thursday in Boston? Who wouldn’t love that?

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