MONTREAL – Welcome to 4 Nations Face-Off, the first international best-on-best tournament with NHL players since the World Cup of Hockey 2016. After two days of practice, it starts Wednesday with Canada taking on Sweden at Bell Centre in Montreal. NHL.com Editor-in-Chief Bill Price is high atop the arena to provide the sights, sounds and highlights of this historic event. Follow along all game and all tournament.
7 p.m. ET
We are about an hour away from the start of the 4 Nations Face-Off and I think it’s safe to say it’s like Christmas Eve in this town – heck this entire country — with the excitement and anticipation at an all-time high.
The players are ready, the fans are ready. This is going to be epic.
Don’t believe me, just ask the players. NHL.com columnist Nick Cotsonika wrote today about just intense and meaningful this tournament will be.
And if you love international best-on-best hockey, you got more good news Wednesday with the NHL and NHLPA officially announcing the World Cup of Hockey 2028. Here is our story.
As for the game Wednesday, the biggest news so far for the home country was the announcement of Jordan Binnington as the starting goalie for Canada on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how much leash he gets. If there is one question mark about Canada in this tournament, it’s the goaltending. Let’s see if Binnington repays the faith of the management team.
As for Sweden, they are without Jacob Markstrom of the New Jersey Devils, leaving their goaltending a bit in limbo. This morning we found out that Filip Gustavsson of the Minnesota Wild will start for Sweden.
The fans are starting to get out of the cold and file into the building and the countdown has begun. I’ll be back in a little bit.