Three Fights Erupt in Nine Seconds Amid Bitter Rivalry and Anthem Booing

3 FIGHTS in 9 seconds! | 01:27

Canadian coach Jon Cooper put it better than anyone. “Ten years without international hockey,” he said, “just exhaled in a minute and a half.”

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The only thing he was wrong about was the time frame.

Try nine seconds.

Saturday’s 3-1 Team USA victory over Canada was memorable from start to finish, with multiple players calling it among the greatest hockey experiences of their lives.

But decades from now, this might be known as the “Three fights in nine seconds” game.

After raucous booing of the U.S. national anthem, the tensions ratcheted up even higher when Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel dropped the gloves off the opening faceoff.

When the puck was dropped for a second time, Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett did the same.

Then, once the game actually started, a scrum at the USA net inside the first 10 seconds led to J.T. Miller fighting Colton Parayko, all as the 21,105 inside the Bell Centre roared.

“When the first one happened, I was like, there’s no way Brady doesn’t get in on the act there,” Dylan Larkin said. “There’s just no way. … You could see the looks before the puck was dropped. Anything goes with those guys.”

Though it was easy to draw a connection between that and the political situation, Matthew Tkachuk made clear that was not what prompted it.

Nor did the brothers discuss things with their father, Keith Tkachuk, who dropped the gloves with Claude Lemieux at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

MONTREAL, CANADA – FEBRUARY 15: Matthew Tkachuk #19 of Team USA fights with Brandon Hagel #38 of Team Canada during the first period in the 4 Nations Face-Off game at the Bell Centre on February 15, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

“We needed to send a message,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “We’re here in Montreal on a Saturday night. We want it to be our time and that message started right from the get-go.”

So the two brothers and Miller planned things out earlier on Saturday in a group chat.

Team Canada had no similar plans.

“I expected an intense start for sure, an emotional one or however you want to put it,” Parayko said. “But I don’t know if you really expect three fights.”

But for the United States, it set a tone that continued for all 60 minutes.

MONTREAL, CANADA – FEBRUARY 15: Team USA celebrate their victory over Team Canada during the 2025 NHL 4 Nations Face-Off at the Bell Centre on February 15, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Team USA defeated Team Canada 3-1. Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP

“I was the next shift after it, I think our line went over and it was like, ‘Alright, let’s play some hockey here. Let’s get the game going,’ ” Larkin said. “Honestly, almost calmed it down.”

Of course, everything is relative.

The calmed down version of the game still delivered over 30 hits between the two teams in the first period alone, and over 60 through the entire match.

Charlie McAvoy upended Connor McDavid, Brady Tkachuk clobbered Drew Doughty, Brock Nelson got into it with Sam Bennett.

It was as physical as a hockey game can be, and that is just the way this Team USA likes it.“It’s just a group of guys that are fired up to play their biggest rivals in this type of environment,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “So we had an absolute blast from the start.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post.