This is exciting time in the hockey world. While the National Basketball Association All-Star Game has received significant criticism over the last few days for its “boring” exhibition contest, the same cannot be said for the National Hockey League, which has helped put together an extremely exciting mid-season hockey tournament involving Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland. The event has been so exciting, one needs to sincerely ask what on Earth took the NHL so long to put this together as the event has been significantly more entertaining than the NHL All-Star games over the last 70 years, and the NHL deserves added criticism for not sending its best players to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang and the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
One evident reason why this tournament has been fantastic to watch is the fact that the players are legitimately trying on offense and defense. Players are backchecking, forechecking and hitting. It is important for them to win, and the level of interest has skyrocketed among fans. These games are legitimate and the players want to win unlike many of the past All-Star Games where the ultimate result has simply not mattered.
On Saturday, we knew the United States would be in the final after their 3-1 win over Canada from Montreal. On Sunday, we found out who the United States’s opponent would be. It is Canada after the Canadians beat Finland 5-3 in Boston.
It was a strong first 53 minutes for the Canadians, which took a 4-0 lead before they got shaky goaltending from Jordan Binnington, who gave up three goals in the last seven minutes, before Canadian captain Sidney Crosby had an important empty net insurance marker. The Canadian squad was led by Florida Panthers right winger Sam Reinhart of West Vancouver, British Columbia, who had three assists for three points.
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