It has almost been a week. Yet the memories are still fresh. While the 4 Nations Face-Off didn’t end on a high for the American fans, as NHL connoisseurs, we had hardly anything to complain about. But it seems like J.T. Miller‘s wife, in fact, did have something she wasn’t pleased about.

Without delving much into the reason behind Natalie Craig’s dismay, one wouldn’t take much time to speculate it had something to do with J.T. getting into a slugfest with Colton Parayko during the USA’s first match against Canada at the tournament on February 15. While Miller’s fisticuff may have entertained the fans, his wife understandably wasn’t entirely on board with his actions.

J.T. Miller’s wife was astounded by him zeroing upon a bigger bloke

In a recent interview, the Rangers’ forward’s spouse talked about her feelings seeing J.T. Miller’s on-ice bout at the 4 Nations Face-Off. In a YouTube upload by the official NHL account, Craig could be seen grinning while recalling the scenes that unfolded at the Bell Centre in Montreal. When one of the show’s hosts talked about how seeing J.T. follow the footsteps of the Tkachuk brothers made her feel, Mrs. Miller said, “I swear the crowd stood for like 15 minutes. I literally was like, ‘Okay we’re not sitting. All right, got it,” but also admitted that whole thing was “…so much fun.”

Team USA’s athletes and the national anthem both were booed heavily by Canadian fans during the first portion of the round-robin, and some tension was definitely brewing. When Miller and Co. locked horns with their neighbors in their second match of the 4 Nations, it was the perfect stage to note their displeasure. But watching J.T. deciding to size up the St. Louis defenseman wasn’t something Natalie was happy about.

“Why do you always pick the tallest guy? Like why? I literally was like, ‘Why, why, why?’,” Craig candidly said the first thought in her mind seeing her hubby wanting a piece of Brady and Matthew Tkachuk’s action. “You don’t want to pick somebody smaller than you so that’s fine. But really? 6’8?” she joked about how Parayko could have been too much for J.T. to handle if this was a 1-on-1 thing without their teammates there to help out if necessary. And as for the size of the fellows Miller has picked fights with, let’s consider a few names the Rangers star has gotten in a scuffle with. Kevin Bahl, Anthony Mantha, Jack McBain, Adrian Kempe, and Erik Johnson. Although not all of them are taller than 6’5” as Craig Miller jokingly claimed, they all are bigger than her husband who is 6’1″. But while it’s understandable that the missus was taken aback by the suddenness and the risk of the situation, it wasn’t like J.T. didn’t actually know what he was doing.

J.T. Miller and co. brewed the plan in utmost secrecy

The notorious group chat messages exchanged between Brady, Matthew, and J.T. Miller the day before the US vs Canada received a lot of attention in the following days. It was revealed that on the night before the high-stakes match, the three American stars plotted the way to get back to the Canadians. And the best way to show their displeasure about the harsh treatment? Of course, getting into a full-fledged brawl! And not just one, Miller and his cohorts decided they would instigate three separate fights.

Brady Tkachuk told Spittin’ Chicklets just yesterday that he and Matthew were thinking about doing something explosive as teammates, and the booing gave them the perfect opening. their idea only got a bump after getting acquainted with Miller, who texted them the night before. While the thought of getting even with the Canadians excited them Brady admitted he was still “nervous” about how things would go down.

“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’s head coach Mike Sullivan also admitted he wasn’t aware of the plan. Naturally, with everyone left in the dark about their motive for the match, J.T. Miller’s wife also was left with her jaws dusting the floor.

But what about you? Did you cheer for the slugfest? Or did you think it was a tad extreme? Tell us your take in a comment!