‘We had to send a message’: Tkachuk brothers, J.T. Miller had group chat to plan physical start against Canada

A 60-minute hockey game took place at the Bell Centre on Saturday night between Canada and USA – but the biggest talking point, no question about it, will be the three fights in nine seconds.

It started with Matthew Tkachuk against Brandon Hagel. Then, Brady Tkachuk joined in on the fun, taking on Sam Bennett. J.T. Miller then dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko after the first actual play of the game.

Three fights. Nine seconds. And, in a sense, it was exactly what USA’s top players wanted.

“We had to send a message,” Matthew Tkachuk said.

Tkachuk brothers and J.T. Miller created a group chat today to essentially plot the start of the game for Team USA.

— John Matisz (@MatiszJohn) February 16, 2025

According to Matthew Tkachuk, in a post-game press conference, the three Americans involved in the fights were part of a group chat aimed at sending a message to Canada.

“This is as big of a game as it gets,” Matthew said. “Saturday night, in Montreal. That was incredible.”

Fights are uncommon in international hockey because the IIHF bans it from their competitions.  The 4 Nations Face-Off, however, is hosted and sanctioned by the NHL, with five-minute majors being handled out when players fight, just like in the NHL.

So in the most anticipated matchup between these two teams since the 2010 Olympic gold medal game, we saw fireworks in a way we’ve never really seen before.

USA ultimately won the game 3-1, despite giving up the first goal to Connor McDavid. Jake Guentzel had two goals, including the first, with Dylan Larkin breaking things up in the middle.

USA clinched a spot in the gold medal game on Thursday, with Canada, Sweden and Finland all sitting at two points apiece ahead of Monday’s final day of round-robin play in Boston.

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