It’s been almost a week since Canada won the 4 Nations Face-Off championship match at TD Garden. And yet, it looks like NHL fans can’t still get over the debacle it was! But while the action around the puck was engulfing, the drama surrounding the tournament was just as enticing, and Brady Tkachuk & Co. elevated things to a whole different level and struck a special chord with the Team USA fans.

The first match between the USA and Canada match of the 4 Nations will undoubtedly stay in the community’s memory for a long time to come. Within the first ten seconds of the game, three separate fistfights broke out on the rink, courtesy of Brady Tkachuk, his brother Matthew, and Rangers star J.T. Miller. And now, after the dust has settled down, the Ottawa forward recalls how they planned for the fisticuffs as a way to get back to the Canadians.

In Montréal, during the first portion of the round-robin, Team USA and the country’s national anthem were booed heavily by the fans on the other side of the border. Naturally, that didn’t sit well with the American players and they were desperate to mark their displeasure on the matter. The perfect stage to make their point came soon: the heavyweight clash between the neighbors on February 15. In a recent interview with Spittin’ Chiclets, Brady Tkachuk candidly revealed how the three USA stars used a social media group chat to devise their course of action for the night.

On episode 547 of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Brady said that the thought of playing together in the same team was something he and Matthew were talking about for months even before the 4 Nations. “‘How sick that would be?’ That kind of thing, we’re joking around about it,” Tkachuk said. We went on to grin about how the idea of doing “something nuts” got a boost after the brothers got acquainted with J.T. for the tournament. Miller texted the brothers on the night before the match and the finer points were immediately chalked out.

“I’m not gonna lie to you, I was like so nervous,” Brady said as a candid confession, “I was so nervous for Matthew’s fight, because I was like, ‘Okay, center ice, I can’t have you getting your a** kicked,” grinned the winger. “You were going nuts,” one of the show’s hosts piped in, obviously feeling the excitement sip through him once again recalling the incredible slugfest that defined the match between the North American behemoths.

It was probably just the kind of mental boost Team USA needed. Thanks to the high-octane start, the visitors won the match 3-1, displaying with vigor that they meant business. However, while the players had already set the groundwork for how they wanted to greet Canada at the match, Coach Sullivan barely had any clue about what was about to unfold.

Brady Tkachuk’s boss wasn’t aware of the group chat discussions

“No, I was not aware of it. I knew we were going to be jacked up to play. Obviously, there’s a lot of energy around this game, but my thought process was that these guys tend to be the heartbeat of our group,” Team USA head coach Mike Sullivan later admitted that he was in the dark about the plans of Brady Tkachuk and his colleagues. Instead, in his mind, Sullivan kept thinking that the Tkachuk brothers would help the team feel more confident with their unique play style. “My thought process was, these guys are going to help us gain momentum. They just play the game so hard. They bring over the physicality. They’re hard to play against,” he said.

But it isn’t like the Tkachuk siblings and Miller did something out of the box. For almost a century, fights have been a part of what many refer to as “The Code” in professional hockey. Over the decades it has become a cornerstone of the sport. And yet, when Brady and Matthew got embroiled with Brandon Hagel and Sam Bennett respectively, their father Keith Tkachuk couldn’t help but feel squeamish in his guts, despite he himself having a reputation of being a notorious player on the ice during his time in the NHL.

Still, after all the lengths that Brady and the other two went to bolster their team’s mentality, they couldn’t save the day. The second time the two teams clashed at the tournament for the championship game, Team USA was handed a narrow 3-2 loss thanks to Connor McDavid’s overtime goal to bring the inaugural 4 Nations trophy to Canada. But while the loss was definitely painful for the American fans, what did you think of the international tournament in general? Tell us in a comment!