Feb 20, 2025; Boston, MA, USA; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team Canada forward Sydney Crosby (87) lifts the trophy after defeating the United States during the 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey championship game at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

4 Nations Face-Off Named Event of Year

Originally posted on Breakaway on SI | By Nick Horwat | Last updated May 22, 2025 8:15 AM ET

The NHL didn’t know what to expect when they announced the 4 Nations Face-Off, but it turned out to be a stroke of genius. Instead of an All-Star Game, the league held a mini-international tournament involving NHLers from Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States.

The tournament turned out to be one of the most viewed sporting events of the year, and is now an award-winning moment. The Sports Business Journal held its annual award show, and named the 4 Nations Face-Off the Sports Event of the Year.

Sports Event of the Year: 4 Nations Face-Off

The NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off topped 9.3M viewers—highest since ’94—as Canada beat the U.S. in OT. Big win for hockey ahead of the Olympics.#SBJAwards pic.twitter.com/t9fEGJsysn
— Sports Business Journal (@SBJ) May 21, 2025

Topping over 9.3 million viewers, hockey fans from around the world tuned in to watch Team Canada squeak out an overtime victory over Team USA in the championship game.

Since the tournament only featured four teams, it wasn’t a perfect reintroduction to international play for the NHL, but it provided a great run of entertaining hockey. With rivalries between Team Finland and Team Sweden, as well as the USA and Canada, pretty much every game was must-watch hockey.

Political tensions between Canada and the United States at the time also played a role in adding logs to the fire of their rivalry.

Then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the first meeting of Canada and the United States in Montreal during the round-robin stage. The United States defeated Canada 3-1.

President Donald Trump called Team USA ahead of the championship game against Canada to wish them good luck. Canada ended up taking home gold with a 3-2 overtime win.

The NHL may not host this event often, if ever again, but the league enjoyed a great deal of success for their first best-on-best international tournament since the 2014 Winter Olympics.

This article first appeared on Breakaway on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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