And the idea was born from a three-person group chat earlier in the day.
Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk and J.T. Miller had an idea. Let’s go rock’em sock’em right off the start of the game, they texted each other. Let’s send them a message.
“Yeah, there was a little discussion during the day,” began Brady Tkachuk, hesitating when I asked the two brothers postgame if they planned it.
“You can tell them,” older brother Matthew then told Brady.
“Yeah, there was a group chat going on today,” said Brady. “Still slept like a baby though. Just kind of reaffirmed that we would do that.”
Did they ever.
Matthew Tkachuk went on the opening faceoff with Brandon Hagel.
Brady Tkachuk a few seconds later with Sam Bennett.
Then on the very next shift, Miller sought out the towering Colton Parayko.
Three fights, nine seconds, had Bell Centre absolutely rocking, and neither team backing down.
“Mayhem,” Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper said when asked to describe it in one word. He had no problems with any of it.
“It was a long time coming,” Hagel said of his fight with Matthew Tkachuk, a nod to their intense battles in the Tampa-Florida NHL rivalry.
“Matthew’s fight to start it off was such an energy boost,” said Brady Tkachuk. “I think I was more excited, more nervous than my own. And then Millsy to cap it off to go against a big guy like that, I think he did a great job.”
Miller’s face would disagree. He certainly wore the scars of his ill-fated decision to fight Parayko, the modern-day Larry Robinson, aka don’t poke the bear.
But full credit to Miller for his guts taking on a man mountain.
“That was pretty fun, that was the coolest experience I’ve probably had on the ice or one of them,” said Miller. “To hear the building like that, it’s something you’ll never forget. There’s a lot of bad blood but at the same time tons of respect for the other team. Just a fun environment to be in. You don’t get this opportunity very often.”
Parayko didn’t spend the day thinking he’d be dropping the gloves, that’s for sure. But he certainly didn’t turn Miller down.
“I expected an intense start, for sure, an emotional one, or however you want to put it,” Parayko said. “But, I mean, I don’t know if you really expect three fights or whatever. But yeah, you definitely expect an intense start.”
What fuelled the Hanson Brothers’ act at the start of the game? Team USA knew full well that Team Canada was entering the game on a 17-game win streak in best-on-best hockey dating back to the 2010 Olympics.
“They’ve had a ton of success over the last bunch of years and for us to have this opportunity to play them in Canada … for us, this is as big of a game as it gets. I mean, this is what you dream about,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “A chance to knock off Canada in Canada on a Saturday night in Montreal in that type of environment. It was incredible. It was fun to start it like that.”
Added Miller: “You have to set the tone and when you have the Tkachuk brothers on the team, it’s just built for them. Those are my favourite type of games to be in. I just think there’s a tone that needs to be set and not much has to be said. And there’s no better place to do it than Montreal. A lot of fun.”
According to NHL stats, there had been only five previous fights in the history of best-on-best international hockey. Make that eight now.
Two of those fights came at the 1996 World Cup when Bill Guerin, now Team USA GM, fought Keith Primeau and Claude Lemieux fought … well, of course, Keith Tkachuk.
After the game, the Tkachuk brothers insisted they hadn’t talked to their dad or Guerin about it.
It’s rare given the skill level of best-on-best to see it. But the USA-Canada rivalry brings it out sometimes.
Lemieux, reached via text message Saturday night, said he immediately thought of the ’96 World Cup when he saw the three fights. And of course, his own fight in ’96.
“I was not playing well, I was fighting an injury, so I thought I would go after Keith (Tkachuk) and get him out of the game,” Lemieux said.
Primeau, also reached Saturday night, had a flashback too.
“There’s nothing like national pride, and in some instances the way some feel how they can contribute or ignite their team is to challenge their opponent,” Primeau said via text message. “I had tremendous courage when I was fighting for my country and the swell of pride is immeasurable. I know how these guys felt before during and after their fight.”
Both benches Saturday night were jacked after those three fights. But the message sent came from Team USA to be sure.
“That was electric,” said Team USA captain Auston Matthews. “Just from the drop of the puck. That’s something pretty cool to be a part of. Kudos to both sides squaring off like that. But just the atmosphere and everything was pretty incredible. Big win for us.”
Did the rest of the team know what was coming from the start of the game?
“I mean, you had a sense that we definitely wanted to come out and send a message right away,” said Matthews. “Those three guys stepping up like that, those guys are as hard as it gets when it comes to just playing the game hard with an edge. Just to start the game off like that I thought it gave our bench a lot of energy, a lot of life and we went from there.’’
It wasn’t just the fighting. Brady Tkachuk and Charlie McAvoy, in particular, also had very physical games. McAvoy’s thunderous and clean body check on Connor McDavid in the first period also got his team going.
“That also was a message-sending moment,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “And probably one of the plays of the game. They just scored a goal, the building was rocking, and Charlie comes there and he pops McDavid; one of the hardest hits I’ve seen.”
Oh yeah, and Team USA won the game 3-1. But it’s the way it all started that won’t be soon forgotten.
“I just think it’s very indicative of what this means to the players,” said Team USA head coach Mike Sullivan. “There’s two teams out there that are very competitive that have a ton of pride for their respective teams and countries. For me, when you have an investment in trying to win like the way that it occurred, I think that’s an indication of it.
“What an incredible hockey game.”
Despite the loss, one of Cooper’s main takeaways is that his team didn’t back down. That he’s got a team that cares. And that gives his confidence moving forward.
A Canada-USA rematch on Thursday in Boston? We cannot be deprived of it. This rivalry wrote another dramatic chapter Saturday night. Can’t wait to see what comes next.
(Photo of Matthew Tkachuk fighting with Brandon Hagel: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
