"Don’t boo our anthem 51st State" "More entertaining than NBA": Hockey fans react to Matthew Tkachuk's fight against Canada's 6'2" star

The game between Teams USA and Canada on Saturday at Bell Centre was physical, and Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel's fight stood out. Players from both sides were fueled by emotions as the fans cheered them on. The year-long USA-Canada hockey rivalry was witnessed, with three fights breaking out within nine seconds of the first puck drop.

Tkachuk and Hagel fought at 00:02 in the first period. Seconds into the fight, Hagel, who stands 6'2'' tall, landed a punch on Tkachuk's head, relieving him of his helmet. Both players landed a few blows before Tkachuk tried to push Hagel onto the ice but fell.

World Hockey Report posted a clip of the fight on X and captioned it:

"Greatest 9 seconds in hockey history."

Soon, the video of Tkachuk's fight went viral on X, and hundreds of comments started pouring in.

"Watched it 15 times already. Great stuff to watch. The rude Canadians take a beat down on the ice and the score 3-1. USA," a fan tweeted.

"I’m so pissed I missed this live. Tears coming out of my eyes. This s**t is beautiful. And we smoked em … (US flag)," another tweeted.

"Isn't the bet that Canada has to become the 51st state if they lose?" A fan tweeted.

"Could not be sweeter. Beat their a**es at their own game, both physically and mentally. Canada is such a joke," a fan tweeted.

Matthew Tkachuk explained the message Team USA wanted to send

Team USA beat Canada 3–1 to secure a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final. Jake Guentzel scored twice, and Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves. The game started with three fights. Postgame, Matthew Tkachuk explained the message behind it.

"I think the message we wanted to send is 'It's our time,'" Tkachuk said, via NHL.com. "We're in a hostile environment, and we wanted to show that we're not backing down.

They've had so much success over so many years over there. They're some of the best players in the world. We felt in this environment it was a good time to do it. It was a lot of fun."

Team Canada scored first with a goal from Connor McDavid. However, it struggled in the second and third periods and couldn't break through. Canada must now beat Finland in regulation on Monday to qualify for the final.