“Do NBA All-Star Weekend” “Take note NFL”: Hockey fans react as Canada vs USA 4 Nations final breaks viewership record

The 4 Nations Face-Off final between Canada and the USA set a new viewership record. It drew 9.3 million viewers on ESPN. Canada won 3-2 in overtime at TD Garden in Boston.

On Friday, sports anchor John Buccigross tweeted:

"WOW! 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀 9.3 million viewers for Canada-USA final on ESPN last night. Higher than any NHL game ever."

Soon, fans saw the post and started sharing their opinions.

"And the refs stayed out of the game! Take note, NFL," One fan wrote.

"Now do the NBA All-Star weekend 😂😂," another fan joked.

"This could be a problem for the NHL that this event is vastly more popular than the Stanley Cup Finals are going to be. The Finals will be lucky to draw half this number," a fan said.

Here are some more reactions from fans.

"Olympics numbers gonna be insane, so will the World Cup of hockey when it comes around," a fan said.

One fan expressed concerns over injured players' situation.

"The Players Association will probably ruin it. Several important players were injured and may hurt their team playoff chances. That is what happened to football. The NFLPA got involved and put so many restrictions on the ProBowl that it became a joke."

"Canada may have won the tournament, NHL won the real prize. Let’s see how they turn this into a turnover though," a fan said.

Goalie Jordan Binnington expressed his feelings after the Canada vs USA 4 Nations final

Canada's goalie Jordan Binnington made 31 saves, including key stops in overtime in the 4 Nations Face-Off final.

"I was just battling, trying to do my job," Binnington said, via NHL.com. "We found a way to get the job done and obviously there are little moments like that that are more special when you win."

Nathan MacKinnon gave Canada a 1-0 lead at 4:48 of the first period with a wrist shot from the point. The USA tied it 1-1 at 16:52 when Brady Tkachuk scored off a pass from Auston Matthews.

Jake Sanderson put Team USA ahead 2-1 at 7:32 of the second period, scoring off a rebound. Canada tied it 2-2 at 14:00 when Sam Bennett scored from a tough angle after Mitch Marner's setup. Connor McDavid scored at 8:18 of overtime with Marner's helper to win the tournament.

Canada secured its fourth straight best-on-best tournament win. Now, the next major international tournament is the 2026 Winter Olympics.