The USA-Canada on-ice feud has been fierce, but after the insane, fight-filled 4-Nations Face-Off, it went into a whole different gear. Team USA’s Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk, and JT Miller stole headlines after leaked text messages had them scheming up their fights on a group chat—a tactic of prodding the Canadians and stoking their bench. It did its job, if only for the opener, but not everyone gave it much thought.

As the rematch draws near, Brandon Hagel has no problem being loud. The Canadian wing, who fought with Matthew Tkachuk directly after the opening face-off, unleashed a straight-shooting blast on Team USA. To his way of thinking, Canada doesn’t participate in forced drama, only pure intensity.

“I think we’re out there playing for the flag, not the cameras,” Hagel said. “That’s a part of Canada that we have in there. We don’t need to initiate anything. We don’t have any group chats going on.” And just like that, the competition has gotten even vicious.

If Team USA thought their premeditated mayhem shook up Team Canada, then they were sadly deluded. In his opinion, theatrics and premeditated fights aren’t the way of Canada. Their last meeting opened with three fights in nine seconds, with Matthew Tkachuk taking on Hagel, Brady Tkachuk with Sam Bennett, and Miller with Colton Parayko. It was chaos, and the Bell Centre shook. But the crowd seemed to enjoy every second of it, Hagel did not enjoy what Team USA had in store.

“We’re just gonna play as hard as we can and do it for the flag on our chest,” he said, dismissing the notion of needing to create its own drama to keep pace with the Americans. And really, Hagel spoke with his fists the other day. There was no delay when Matthew Tkachuk charged towards him. A couple of punches and Tkachuk was on the ice. But the distinction? According to Hagel, he did fight because the circumstances called for it—and not because of a pre-game text message.

The more we read this, the more this whole “group chat” soap opera feels and looks like a USA vs. Canada attitude showdown. Team USA played with their big, boisterous, shock-the-world approach, and Canada played with their grind-it-out, let-the-game-speak-for-itself style.

Now, both sides are yet to settle this issue in the decider.

The tale of ugly rivalry

Bad blood spilled into round two as if the USA-Canada hadn’t been fiery enough. The Tkachuk brothers and Miller went big, and Team USA did win, but Canada didn’t take their humble pie exactly. Hagel’s words tell you loud and clear: this time, there’s a different attitude to expect from Canada. They don’t want the pre-planned brawls and ego-driven chaos this time; they’re there to win the damn game.

For the Americans, it’s a pride thing. This is a team that hasn’t won a best-on-best international tournament in over two decades. Canada? They’ve been dominating the scene since 2010. So, Team USA took matters into their own hands, creating their own version of an old-school statement game.

“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 … this is as big as it gets,” Matthew Tkachuk said after the last game. They wanted to shake up Canada. Perhaps they did. But did they shatter them? Absolutely not.

And now, with their team, Hagel reminds the Americans of this.

The rematch isn’t for the trophy, though—it’s for who’s really in charge of this feud. Would Team USA’s bullying, tone-setting style repeat, or would Canada show them that absolute dominance doesn’t need premeditated fireworks? One thing’s for sure—it’s gonna be dirty as it can get.