The NHL might have figured it out. The All-Star breaks from the NFL, NBA and MLB the last couple years have been lackluster at best. No effort, guys just clearly not wanting to participate, the fun and mainly the competition is completely lost. I hate it for the younger generation that loves sports the way I did when I was young, the All-Star games were always one of the highlights of the season. You used to get to see the best in the world on one court/field playing, but all of that is gone. Last year, the NBA had Larry Bird and Dr. J give motivational speeches to the two All-Star teams. Not to try and motivate them to win the game, they were motivating them to actually play competitive basketball instead of just loafing up and down the court while heaving threes from the logo. It didn’t work, the NBA All-Stars didn’t care and the game was as boring to watch as pretty much everything else the NBA does.
But the NHL found something with this 4 Nations Face Off tournament. If you haven’t been paying attention, in lieu of a traditional All-Star weekend, the NHL decided to compile their all-star players onto their national teams and have a round-robin tournament. It has turned out to be the best thing any of the four major leagues have done to solve their mid-season entertainment problem. It seems like an age-old debate, who would win in a hockey game with Canada’s best versus the US’ best? A debate we now get to seemingly settle once (and maybe twice) a year. The game Saturday started with three fights in the first 9 seconds of the game, this game clearly mattered on a different level. Guys weren’t out there just playing for a little paycheck, they were playing for national pride. The US got behind early, but they clawed their way back into the game and got the 3-1 win, solidifying their spot in the Championship game Thursday night.
Team Canada will play Finland today at 12:00 PM CT on TNT and TruTV for a spot in the finals against the US Thursday night, the US will play Sweden tonight at 7 PM in a game that really only affects the seeding for Canada and Finland. But I think just about everyone wants to see a rematch on Thursday night between the US and Canada, and I think we will get it. Finland lost to the US 6-1, and Canada wants to avenge their loss to the US, so they should be determined to dominate today. Stay tuned to DRGnews.com for all the updates from the tournament.
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