Brandon Hagel comes clean on Team Canada's "champions" group chat following 4 Nations win over USA

Team Canada forward Brandon Hagel admitted they have a group chat after his “champions” post from a week ago went viral. On Thursday, the NHL Network posted a short clip featuring Hagel’s explanation for the post on X (formerly Twitter).

During an interview on the "NHL Network Players Only," Hagel said:

"I don't know. Obviously, we had a group chat. I think every team does regardless of what it is and I don't know. I think it was just popped in my head after a few drinks and I thought that was a good idea."

On Feb. 20, Hagel posted a picture of the Canadian flag on his Instagram Story titled “Champions.” The post looked like a screenshot of a group chat, which referred to an earlier controversy.

The jibes over group chats came into the limelight during the 4 Nations Face-Off after the Feb. 15 round-robin Canada-USA game. Three pairs of players from either side dropped gloves within the first 10 seconds of the game. It later emerged that Team USA players Matthew Tkachuk, his brother Brady and J.T. Miller had pre-planned the brawls in the team’s group chat.

On Tuesday, Hagel, involved in the first bout against Matthew Tkachuk, criticized the US team ahead of the tournament final.

"We're out there playing for a flag, not the cameras," Hagel said, via NHL.com. "That's the part of Canada we have in [the dressing room]. We don't need to initiate anything. We don't need any group chats going on."

Tkachuk had countered with a jab of his own:

"Maybe their team doesn't like each other then if they don't have group chats," Tkachuk said. "Our team doesn't care about anything that they say."

Team Canada lift 4 Nations Face-Off trophy after narrow 3–2 OT win

Team Canada edged Team USA in the final, with Connor McDavid scoring the winning goal in overtime and Canada netminder Jordan Binnington making multiple saves with the score tied at 2–2 in the third period and in overtime to keep the game alive.

"I'm just really happy he scored," Canada captain Sidney Crosby said, via NHL.com. "He couldn't be more deserving of an opportunity and that moment."

The victory marked Canada's fourth consecutive best-on-best hockey championship, extending a run that began with the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. The USA hasn't won an international hockey trophy since the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.