Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Make sure to scroll down to the Top Five and check out a whole bunch of great college basketball highlights.
In today’s SI:AM:
⛳ How the Genesis came to San Diego
🏈 NFL offseason story lines
⚾ What happened when MLB banned the shift
This could be fun
The NHL is doing things a little differently for the All-Star break this season.
Instead of the boring old All-Star Game, the league has replaced the traditional weekend of All-Star events with a week-long international tournament called the 4 Nations Face-Off, which begins Wednesday night in Montreal.
Here’s everything you need to know about the tournament.
Who’s participating?
The titular four nations are the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland. Other notable hockey countries like Russia, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany didn’t make the cut. The reason for the small field is simple. First of all, it’s necessary to squeeze the tournament into a short timeframe. But also, only NHL players will be able to participate in the tournament, so the field is limited to countries that won’t have any trouble filling a roster.
The rosters are strong, too. Canada defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is the only player to opt out of the tournament, citing an undisclosed injury. Other players, like U.S. defenseman Quinn Hughes, have pulled out with injuries, but Pietrangelo is the only one who has been healthy enough to play for his NHL team and decided not to play in the tournament. Canadian star Sidney Crosby missed the last two games before the All-Star break but is “desperate” to play in the tournament, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reports. Other big stars like Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and Erik Karlsson are also participating.
How does the tournament work?
The tournament will consist of a four-team round robin, followed by a championship game. The final game will be played on Feb. 20. The first four games will be played in Montreal, beginning with Wednesday night’s opener between Canada and Sweden, and the last three, including the championship, will be played in Boston. The big intra-continental rivalry games (U.S. vs. Canada and Sweden vs. Finland) will both be played on Saturday.
Unlike at the Olympics, games will be played under NHL rules. The other wrinkle, which is different from both the NHL and the Olympic format, is that during the round robin, the three-on-three overtime will be 10 minutes long, rather than five, before a game goes to a shootout. The championship game, though, will use the same overtime format as the NHL playoffs: 20 minutes of five-on-five hockey until we get a winner.
Schedule and how to watch
The tournament will be played over eight days and the broadcast rights will be shared by the NHL’s two main TV partners, ESPN and TNT, although ESPN gets the most high-profile games.
Full Schedule (all times ET):
Wednesday, Feb. 12: Canada vs. Sweden, 8 p.m. on TNT/MAX
Thursday, Feb. 13: USA vs. Finland, 8 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN+
Saturday, Feb. 15: Finland vs. Sweden, 1 p.m. on ABC/ESPN+
Saturday, Feb. 15: USA vs. Canada, 8 p.m. on ABC/ESPN+/Disney+
Monday, Feb. 17: Canada vs. Finland, 1 p.m. on TNT/MAX
Monday, Feb. 17: Sweden vs. USA, 8 p.m. on TNT/MAX
Thursday, Feb. 20: Championship game, 8 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN+
Why is the NHL doing this?
It’s an interesting idea that seeks to take advantage of fans’ unfulfilled appetite for top-level international hockey. The NHL has not allowed players to participate in the Olympics since the 2014 Games in Sochi, and we haven’t had a true best-vs.-best international hockey tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. NHL players do participate in the IIHF World Championship each spring, but the rosters aren’t nearly as loaded as what will be on display at the 4 Nations.
The NHL has agreed to let its players participate in the next two Olympics (in Milan next year and the French Alps in 2030), so this tournament is a good way to drum up interest in international hockey. And it’s certainly better than the dull All-Star Game.
Who’s going to win?
The condensed format makes this a real toss-up. With each team only playing three games before the championship game, one loss could knock you completely out of the running. As with the playoffs, hot goaltending could be the key. A team that gets its goalie to stand on his head for four games won’t have to do much on offense to lift the trophy. And the team with the best goalie is the U.S., which has Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets. Hellebuyck is a two-time Vezina Trophy winner and has been even better this season than he was when he won the award last year. He’s second in the NHL with a .925 save percentage and leads the league with a 2.06 goals-against average. He also has six shutouts, two more than any other player this season. If the U.S. is going to win this tournament, it starts with Hellebuyck.
The best of Sports Illustrated
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- Two years after MLB’s ban on defensive shifts, Tom Verducci looks at how the rule change has (or hasn’t) impacted the way the game is played.
- The Louisville men’s basketball team is back to its winning ways after two dreadful seasons. Pat Forde has the story of how new coach Pat Kelsey has turned the program around.
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- It took a while, but Clayton Kershaw is finally back with the Dodgers.
- The Saints have hired Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore as their new head coach.
- How bad are things going for the Sixers this season? Fans in Philadelphia were booing Joel Embiid on Tuesday night.
The top five…
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | What to Know About the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off.
