Ranking every Canada-USA matchup from a men's best-on-best hockey tournament

New York Times

14-02-2025

On Saturday night, after over eight years of waiting, it's finally back: Canada vs. USA in a best-on-best men's hockey tournament.
OK, maybe the 4 Nations Face-Off doesn't have quite the same claim to 'best-on-best' status as some of the tournaments that have come before it, given that only four teams are competing. But those four teams are bringing the very best players they have available, so yes, this is a best-on-best matchup. And it should be a good one.
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Tomorrow marks the 20th time in men's hockey history that Team Canada has faced Team USA in a true best-on-best, by which we mean the Canada Cup, the World Cup and the Olympics in years in which the NHL sent its players. Canada has dominated the head-to-head with a record of 14-4-1, but it's been closer since the dawn of the World Cup and Olympic era, and this year's matchup is basically a coin flip.
We'll see how it turns out, and whether we have to settle for just this one game or get a rematch in next week's championship game. For now, let's look back on those 19 previous matchups and rank them from worst to best.
This is the biggest blowout in the rivalry's best-on-best history and it's not all that close — and it came in a half-empty Northlands Coliseum. In fairness, it was a closer contest than the score would suggest, with Canada scoring five times in the final 10 minutes to take the lead and then pull away. But given that the two teams would meet in a better game with higher stakes just a few days later, it's not a tough call to put this one in the last spot.
The flip side of the previous entry, the score was flattering here, as Canada jumped out to a 5-0 lead on the strength of big games from Wayne Gretzky and a teenaged Eric Lindros. Considering they'd meet in the final a few days later, this game was quickly forgotten by everyone, even our AI overlords.
Thankfully, this will be the only tie we'll encounter in the rivalry's history. It was historically significant at the time, marking the first best-on-best meeting between the two teams that Canada hadn't won, and it clearly meant a lot to the Americans based on their celebration of the tying goal with four minutes left. (Fun side game: See if you can count how many times goalie interference would be called on that play based on today's rules.)
Still, any hopes for a rematch in the final were dashed when Team USA was pummelled 9-2 by the Swedes in the semis, and to this day this tournament is remembered more for Canada's 3-2 overtime win over the Soviets in that same round than anything else, including the final.
This was the first (and until 1991, the only) time the two teams had met in an elimination game. Canada picked up where it left off in the round-robin matchup, scoring three first-period goals to run its total to eight in the last 30 minutes the two teams had played. The game tightened up from there, but the Americans never really got close. Canada would go on to be embarrassed by the Soviets in the final, making 1981 probably the most forgettable Canada Cup tournament, at least from a North American perspective.
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This was best-on-best with a small asterisk, as the existence of the under-23 Team North America meant that names like Connor McDavid couldn't take part in this matchup. Still, it delivered a solid game, with Team USA scoring early and late and Canada controlling in between. The game was part of a disappointing 0-for-3 showing by the Americans, who were eliminated from the playoffs with this loss.
(By the way, the two teams also split a pair of pre-tournament exhibition games, which occasionally show up in these tournaments but we're not counting on our overall list because come on.)
The first-ever best-on-best meeting between the two nations saw the underdog Americans put up a solid fight against a heavily favored Canadian team that would cruise to a tournament win. Canada jumped out to a 3-0 lead early, but the Americans fought back in front of 21-year-old goalie Pete LoPresti, who was awarded their player of the game honors. Team Canada's player of the game? Bobby Orr. Yeah, there may have been a slight talent disparity between these two rosters.
Is it weird that I have virtually no recollection of this game, even though it's one of the most recent? Maybe not, since this edition of Team Canada was simultaneously one of history's best teams and also its most boring, playing a stifling defensive game on the way to an undefeated tournament. The only goal came from Jamie Benn and was assisted by, according to this international announcer, somebody named Jaybauw Meester.
The 2004 World Cup was a decidedly weird affair, playing out just days before the start of the lockout that would end up wiping out the entire NHL season. It kicked off with this low-scoring matchup, which saw Martin Brodeur outduel, uh, Robert Esche. I would make a joke here about goaltending mismatches in international hockey, but, well, you know.
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Despite how history has come to remember it, this tournament did include teams other than Canada and the Soviets. Team USA was there, and while they ultimately missed the playoff round, they gave Canada a tough game. It took three goals from Mario Lemieux — or as he called it in 1987, 'an off night' — to get past a 37-save performance by John Vanbiesbrouck.
It would be overshadowed by what would happen between these two teams a few days later, but this game had some meaningful stakes with first place in the group on the line; the American win gave them a first-round bye and an easier path through the playoff round. Brian Rafalski played the hero with a pair of first-period goals, including one that came less than a minute in.
The Americans at least put up a fight, especially in the second game, which saw Canada need a late short-handed goal from Steve Larmer to take the lead for good, as Bill Ranford outdueled Mike Richter. The mini-sweep was a letdown after the legendary three-game final in 1987, but it was progress for Team USA, who finished second in a best-on-best for the first time ever. They'd have to wait five years for their shot at taking the last step, but they'd be ready.
It might seem strange to list a round-robin game this high on our list, especially given that these two teams would play three more games with much higher stakes within two weeks. But with five years having passed since the two teams had met in the 1991 final, the 'Canada' stripped out of the Canada Cup, and the Americans icing by far their best team ever, there was a lot of anticipation for this matchup. Mix in a feisty Philadelphia crowd, and the intensity was at an all-time high.
How high? Well, how many times have you seen a full-line brawl in a best-on-best international tournament?
That all took 20 seconds to start, by the way. Luckily, we no longer have any Tkachuks around to make trouble so we should be (checks earpiece) oh no.
Coming just a year and a half after the hotly contested 1996 World Cup, the NHL's first foray into the Olympics had already been penciled in for another USA-Canada final. This game was assumed to be a warmup for the 1998 gold medal showdown that, of course, never came. As it turns out, I remember this game primarily for two things: Surprising Team Canada pick Rob Zamuner scoring a goal on a gorgeous feed from Gretzky, and (far more importantly) Mike Myers showing up on David Letterman a few days later and taunting the American audience by continuously finger-flashing the 4-1 score. Luckily the Americans wouldn't have seen it since none of their hotel room TVs were working for some reason.
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We saw what happened in the round-robin a few slots up. This was the main event.
The opener featured an American tying goal in the dying seconds of regulation leading to a Steve Yzerman winner in overtime. That would be the first of just two best-on-best overtimes these two nations have ever played, and yes, we'll get to the second one in a bit.
The Game 1 loss felt like a massive missed opportunity for the Americans, as the remainder of the best-of-three shifted back to Canadian ice. But Team USA missed the memo about a coronation and fought back with an impressive 5-2 win in the second game to even the series and set up the first winner-take-all showdown in the rivalry's history. They delivered a classic in front of a rabid Montreal crowd (which included a young future writer for The Athletic who didn't regain full use of his voice for about a week). Canada took a 2-1 lead into the dying minutes before the Americans unloaded for four straight goals to capture their first and so far only best-on-best title.
With only two slots to go, there's no surprise as to which games are left. Let's see if the order surprises you …
I can absolutely see the case for swapping these two. Having these two nations play sudden death with a gold medal on the line made for irresistible drama, especially after Team USA forced the extra period with seconds left in regulation. And there's no question that Sidney Crosby's golden goal is almost certainly the most famous moment the rivalry will ever produce.
In fact, let's watch it a few times:
The ending was phenomenal — so good that it almost entirely compensates for the first 59 minutes of this game being a defensive-minded slog. If you wanted to put 2010 at the very top of your own list, be my guest.
But if you're old enough to remember 2002, you know how this game felt important in a way that no meeting between these two countries before or since ever has. For Team USA, this was the game that everything had been building toward for decades — a chance to claim hockey's international crown once and for all, on home ice, in front of a massive TV audience both at home and around the globe. Meanwhile, Canada was in the midst of a full-blown existential hockey crisis after the disappointments of 1996 and 1998, and we'd spent years reminding each other that the country hadn't won Olympic gold since 1952. The Americans desperately wanted to win. The Canadians desperately needed to.
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The game didn't have overtime, but it had everything else. This was the game that featured Mario Lemieux somehow giving us arguably the greatest goal of his legendary career without even touching the puck. The game had 14 future Hall of Famers and counting on Team Canada, plus seven more on Team USA, meaning more than half the players in the game were all-time legends. It had a breathtakingly tense third period, until the dam finally broke late. It gave us Bob Cole at his very best, with Jah-yoe Sakic and Surely That's Gotta Be It.
It should be in the conversation for the single greatest hockey game ever played.
And despite all that, it's only barely ahead of the 2010 OT thriller on my list. If you're American, maybe you think the 1996 finale is right there with them.
One thing we can agree on: When everything clicks just right, these two national teams can deliver a moment that lives forever. Let's see what we're in for on Saturday night.
(Photo of Sidney Crosby battling Brian Rafalski in the 2010 Winter Olympics gold medal game: Harry How / Getty Images)