BOSTON — Brandon Hagel still hasn’t had time to respond to the barrage of text messages that swarmed his phone once he fought Matthew Tkachuk off the opening draw the first time Canada met the U.S.
But Hagel has made time to rewatch that surprise punchfest that began Saturday’s epic hockey game in Montreal.
“Of course,” he chuckled.
How many times?
“Five hundred.”
Tkachuk, naturally, was the instigator, but no way was Hagel, a proud Lightning and prouder Canadian, backing down from Tkachuk, a proud Panther and prouder American.
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Canada vs. USA in 4 Nations Face-Off final on Sportsnet
Fierce rivals Canada and the U.S. collide in Boston on Thursday for the 4 Nations Face-Off final. Watch the game on Sportsnet, starting at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.
“I didn’t have a group chat going, so I didn’t know it was coming until the start of the draw. It was one of those things that was just in the moment,” Hagel says.
“I don’t even know if I heard the crowd, to be honest, I was kind of blacked out in that sense.”
The bad blood between the two has been curdling for four days, as Hagel said post-game that Tkachuk got more than bargained for and doubled down on the chirps Tuesday in Boston.
“We’re out there playing for the flag, not the cameras,” Hagel said. “We don’t need to initiate anything. We don’t have any group chats going on.”
The “group chat” shot is a direct response to Tkachuk’s revealing that he, brother Brady, and J.T. Miller — who all picked fights with Canadians in the first nine seconds Saturday — had premeditated the rough stuff via text.
“Well, I mean, maybe their team doesn’t like each other if they don’t have group chats,” Matthew Tkachuk fired back Wednesday.
“I think that’s just a player enjoying his opportunity,” Tkachuk went on. “Our team does not care about anything that they say, and there’s been a lot of chatter and talk from individuals. But we care about one thing in this room, and we have millions of people that are watching us and supporting us around this country, and we’re very prideful in playing for them and the guys in the room. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime for us.”
And opportunity for Hagel — a sixth-round draft pick and bottom-six grinder — too.
“Before the tournament, everyone thought it was gonna be maybe an all-star game in a sense,” Hagel said.
“I remember I was thinking to myself, lying in bed the night before the game: If this is gonna be an all-star type of thing, then I’m gonna be so out of place. Because I’m putting my head through a wall tomorrow.
“The feeling of just getting up and playing for your country, there’s no better feeling.”
Is it Thursday yet?
