2025 4 Nations Face-Off facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
2025 4 Nations Face-Off

Tournament details
Host countries	Canada  United States
Dates	February 12–20, 2025
Teams	4
Venue(s)	Bell Centre, Montreal TD Garden, Boston
Final positions
Champions	Canada
Tournament statistics
Matches played	7
Goals scored	41 (5.86 per match)
Attendance	135,977 (19,425 per match)
Scoring leader(s)	Zach Werenski (6 points)
MVP	Nathan MacKinnon

The 2025 4 Nations Face-Off was a big international ice hockey tournament. It took place from February 12 to 20, 2025. Games were played in two famous arenas: Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada, and TD Garden in Boston, United States.

This special tournament was organized by the National Hockey League (NHL). Only NHL players took part. It temporarily replaced the usual NHL All-Star Game for 2025. Four teams competed: Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. They first played against each other in a round-robin style. Then, the top two teams played in a final game.

Canada won the tournament. They beat the United States 3–2 in overtime during the final match. Sports reporters really liked the tournament. They saw it as a fun change from the All-Star Game.

What is the 4 Nations Face-Off?

Gary Bettman announced the 4 Nations Face-Off in February 2024.

The 2025 4 Nations Face-Off was announced on February 2, 2024. Gary Bettman, the head of the NHL, shared the news. He was at the 2024 NHL All-Star Game press conference. Important people like Marty Walsh from the NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) were there too. Some famous NHL players also attended. These included Connor McDavid (Canada), Sebastian Aho (Finland), Elias Pettersson (Sweden), and Auston Matthews (United States).

Bettman talked about future plans for NHL players. They would play in more international tournaments. This included the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025. He also said NHL players would go to the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics. This was exciting because they had not played in the 2018 and 2022 Olympics. The NHL also plans to host the World Cups of Hockey in 2028 and 2032. The last one was in 2016.

The teams chosen for the tournament were Canada, Finland, the United States, and Sweden. These countries were among the top six in the world for ice hockey. Germany was ranked fifth but did not have enough NHL players. Russia and Czechia were not included. Russia was banned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) due to the war in Ukraine.

There was some extra excitement between Canada and the United States. This was because of political talk between the two countries. Before the final game, the rivalry was very strong. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau even tweeted after Canada won. He said, "You can't take our country — and you can't take our game". The tournament MVP, Nathan MacKinnon, said the games got a lot of attention. Canada's coach, Jon Cooper, felt the team won for all of Canada. This rivalry was compared to the famous 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union.

Where were the Games Played?

The tournament had two main locations. One was in Canada and one in the United States. On June 8, 2024, the NHL confirmed the venues. They were the Bell Centre in Montreal and the TD Garden in Boston.

Montreal	Boston
Bell Centre	TD Garden
Capacity: 21,105	Capacity: 17,850
Bell Centre, Montreal	TD Garden, Boston

How the Tournament Worked

Players had two practice days before the tournament. These were on February 10 and 11. The games then ran from February 12 to 20. There were seven games in total.

The tournament started with a round-robin format. Each team played three games against the others. Teams earned points for wins and losses.

• 3 points for a win in regular time.
• 2 points for a win in overtime or a shootout.
• 1 point for a loss in overtime or a shootout.
• 0 points for a loss in regular time.

The two teams with the most points moved on to a final game.

All games followed NHL rules. They were played on NHL-sized rinks. For round-robin games, overtime was 10 minutes long. It was played 3-on-3, meaning three players from each team. If still tied, there was a three-round shootout. In the final game, overtime was different. It had 20-minute periods, played 5-on-5, until a goal was scored.

Who Played in the Tournament?

Each team had 23 players. This included 20 skaters (forwards and defensemen) and 3 goaltenders. The players were chosen by their country's hockey group. For example, Hockey Canada picked the Canadian players. Only players with an NHL contract for 2024–25 could play. Also, they had to be on an NHL team roster by December 2, 2024.

On June 28, 2024, the first six players for each team were announced. The rest of the players were named on December 4.

Team Canada

Jon Cooper was the head coach for Canada. Sidney Crosby was named the team captain. Cale Makar and Connor McDavid were alternate captains.

Team Finland

Antti Pennanen was the head coach for Finland. Aleksander Barkov was named captain. Sebastian Aho, Mikael Granlund, and Mikko Rantanen were alternate captains.

Team Sweden

Sam Hallam [] was the head coach for Sweden. Victor Hedman was named the team captain. Mattias Ekholm, Erik Karlsson, and William Nylander were alternate captains.

Team United States

Mike Sullivan was the head coach for the United States. Auston Matthews was named captain. Charlie McAvoy and Matthew Tkachuk were alternate captains.

Tournament Results

All times are in Eastern Time (EST).

Round-robin Games

• February 12, 8 p.m. at Bell Centre, Montreal: Canada beat Sweden 4–3 in overtime.
• February 13, 8 p.m. at Bell Centre, Montreal: The United States beat Finland 6–1.
• February 15, 1 p.m. at Bell Centre, Montreal: Finland beat Sweden 4–3 in overtime.
• February 15, 8 p.m. at Bell Centre, Montreal: The United States beat Canada 3–1.
• February 17, 1 p.m. at TD Garden, Boston: Canada beat Finland 5–3.
• February 17, 8 p.m. at TD Garden, Boston: Sweden beat the United States 2–1.

The Final Game

• February 20, 8 p.m. at TD Garden, Boston: Canada beat the United States 3–2 in overtime.
  • Goals for Canada: Nathan MacKinnon, Sam Bennett, Connor McDavid (in overtime).
  • Goals for USA: Brady Tkachuk, Jake Sanderson.

Player Statistics

Top Scorers

These players earned the most points in the tournament. Points are from goals and assists.

Player	Games Played	Goals	Assists	Points
Zach Werenski	4	0	6	6
Connor McDavid	4	3	2	5
Sidney Crosby	4	1	4	5
Nathan MacKinnon	4	4	0	4
Jake Guentzel	4	3	1	4
Mikael Granlund	3	3	1	4
Sam Reinhart	4	0	4	4
Jack Eichel	4	0	4	4
Brady Tkachuk	4	3	0	3
Matthew Tkachuk	3	2	1	3

Best Goaltenders

These goalies had the best save percentage. This means they stopped a high number of shots.

Player	Games Played	Time on Ice	Wins	Losses	OT Losses	Goals Against	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Connor Hellebuyck	3	188:18	2	0	1	5	0	.932	1.59
Jordan Binnington	4	252:43	3	1	0	10	0	.907	2.37
Juuse Saros	2	91:00	0	1	0	6	0	.870	3.96
Filip Gustavsson	2	85:52	0	0	1	6	0	.813	4.19
Kevin Lankinen	2	86:52	1	1	0	7	0	.811	4.84

Watching the Games

The tournament was shown on TV and online in North America. In Canada, you could watch it on Sportsnet (English) and TVA Sports (French). In the United States, games were on ESPN and TNT Sports channels. Some games were even on ABC. You could also stream them online.

Many people watched the games. The final game between Canada and the United States was very popular. In the U.S., about 9.3 million people watched it. In Canada, about 5.7 million people tuned in. These numbers made it one of the most-watched hockey games ever!

Images for kids

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  Bell Centre, Montreal

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  TD Garden, Boston