Tag: 4 Nations

(Photo Credit: @NHL on Instagram)

The fear that everyone had coming in happened, and Vegas are the first who will be forced to live with the fallout.

In the very first game of the 4 Nations Faceoff, Shea Theodore suffered an injury to his hand and/or wrist that quickly ruled him out for the rest of the game and subsequently the remainder of the tournament. The Golden Knights have since announced that he’s out week-to-week. Without question, this exact scenario is what had Golden Knights fans hesitant to truly throw their support, attention, or desire towards the first best-on-best tournament since the franchise’s inception.

There’s no way around it, what happened to Shea sucks. As the head coach of Team Canada said, “it’s a big blow,” “it’s heartbreaking for the kid,” and “a tough one to swallow.”

But this outcome should not condemn the tournament. The play in which Theodore was injured was as normal of a hockey play as you’ll find in any game during the preseason, regular season, playoffs, or even the Stanley Cup Final. It could have happened last week in VGK’s last game before the break or it could have happened the first game when the team comes back. The fact that it happened while Theodore was not wearing a Golden Knights jersey cannot be the sole reason to make a sweeping and selfish generalization on the event as a whole.

And the reason for this is because of what was on display in that game. The level of hockey, the emotion, the pride, and the spectacle of it all was incredible. It wasn’t an exhibition game. It wasn’t meaningless. It was a highly skilled battle between two sets of elite players competing because it’s what is best for the sport. Games like these will hook people to hockey. New fans and more importantly new players will rise the tides of all hockey ships.

And it’s not even like Golden Knights fans were robbed of what came with that game. Sidney Crosby, the league’s best player for nearly a decade, made an incredible pass to Vegas’ captain, and he fired one home to give his country a two goal lead.

In sports that are played by people around the globe, international events are vital to the success and future of a sport. National pride is seductive because there’s no choosing of teams. No matter who you are, you know which group you support. It brings people together in ways league sports cannot. The sense of pride is unmatched, and it was on right there on the television to be seen in last night’s game.

This tournament does not have history. The trophy is not a relic. But, it has to start somewhere. For nine years hockey went without an event that pitted the best players in the world competing against each other for national dominance. Now, we have something. It’s not perfect for so many different reasons, but it’s the beginning of what can and probably will become a massive part of the landscape of the sport.

This time, the Golden Knights are on the wrong end of the necessary side-effects that come with such an event. What we got to watch last night was bigger and better than any game that has been played this season. This tournament and what it will pave the way for in the future is great for hockey, and thus, in turn, will be great for the Vegas Golden Knights. Be sad, be mad, be disappointed, but don’t be selfish enough to let it overshadow the bigger picture. The game itself is why we are all such fanatics about it, and the game deserves the best. International hockey is a part of that and just because it hasn’t been during the time Vegas has existed as part of it, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t.