The Cold War hasn’t been this hot since Lake Placid.
Team USA vs. the Big Red Machine.
This Red menace has nothing to do with Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, or the Soviet Union.
Instead of Moscow, hockey’s newest Evil Empire has its roots in Montreal.
No Canadian team has won a Stanley Cup since 1993.
But the Big Red Machine of Team Canada stands again between the Americans and an international championship. The 4 Nations final Thursday night in Boston has become a mini-Game 7/Olympic Gold Medal game/Roman Gladiator-On-Ice showdown.
The get-in price is over $1,000, plus fees.
Much is on the line.
National pride. Bragging rights. 51st Statehood. Dunkin Donuts being taken over by Tim Hortons.
Canada was feeling a surge of nationalism from the eastern tip of Labrador to the coast of British Columbia ahead of the 4 Nations.
But then Canadian fans booed the US national anthem north of the border. That – in part – triggered a star-spangled beat-down led by brothers Brady and Matthew Tkachuk. The boys followed in Dad’s fist-steps, mimicking his bout with Claude Lemieux in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
Booing the “Star-Spangled Banner?”
Only Americans get to do that.
Governor Trudeau did not say: “I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant.”
But he should have.
With the future of the hockey universe at stake on Causeway Street Thursday night, we checked in with the greatest hockey coach of all time for some perspective on where things stand on the ice between the USA and Canada.
Scotty Bowman remains as sharp as ever at 91. He spends this time of year on Siesta Key, in Florida. Bowman has earned 14 Stanley Cup rings – the most by anyone – due to his association with the Canadiens, Red Wings, Penguins and Blackhawks. It’s not surprising that Bowman spends his days watching hockey.
But it’s not the hockey you might think. Thanks to a hockey-rink-based streaming app and the connectivity between his iPad and Apple TV, Bowman watches his 8 grandkids between the ages of 7 and 22 as they play hockey at various levels across the USA and Canada. Among them are 2 boys who live in Swampscott. Their mom is Bowman’s daughter.
Bowman has the unique honor of being the last opposing coach to watch the Bruins hoist the Stanley Cup on home ice. See: Bobby Orr, 1970. Bowman’s Canadiens returned the favor for him in 1977 and 1978. In 1979, his Habs were the beneficiary of the infamous “too many men on the ice” penalty in the conference finals.
“I have Orr on the top of my list,” Bowman said. “I only coached him once, in the 1976 Canada Cup. He won the MVP on one leg with all the great players in the world, including the Russians. When I coached against him, we couldn’t get past him. And if we did, he would still go back and get our guy.”
And despite nearly 70 years in hockey on- and off-ice coaching and management, Bowman remains fixated on the game’s future.
He offers a simple explanation as to how the Americans have caught up with their Canadian counterparts.
“Hockey in America is attracting athletes it didn’t attract 40 or 50 years ago. Look at Auston Matthews. His height. He could be a quarterback. Very, very few of the players who make the big leagues, play more than one sport when they’re finally in their development years.”
Hockey’s geographic spread has expanded the USA’s talent pool. Team USA has won 3 of the past 5 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior tournaments.
The Yanks are coming.
“Matthews is from Arizona. And he could pass (Alex) Ovechkin if he’s able to keep up his current pace in goal-scoring. We’ve got kids from California and Florida playing all the time. There are rinks everywhere. The USA is getting more people playing hockey than ever before. And more elite athletes are playing hockey than ever before.”
Where American college programs were once not considered a feeding ground to the NHL, Bowman said they are now a primary source of talent. Nineteen of the 24 players on the 4 Nations USA roster have college experience. Including Charlie McAvoy, who is out Thursday.
When Bowman joined the Penguins in 1993, they were coached by USA hockey legend Bob Johnson. Bowman recalls the plight of USA hockey.
“I remember Bob telling me, ‘if only we could get John Elway on skates’.”
The move of Wayne Gretzky from Edmonton to LA triggered a wildfire of interest in hockey across the American West. Youth programs once the exclusive domain of the Northeast and Upper Midwest began to excel in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones.
“The weather is no longer an issue. There’s a certain advantage if you can go scale up a bit. The US program has really helped get kids interested at a young age. And there are so many people. It is foolish to say that if one country has 350 million people and the other has 40 million, things are equal. They weren’t equal 50 years ago because of weather, either,” Bowman said.
Bowman says whatever we see at the TD Garden Thursday will be a forerunner to the 2026 Olympics, which begin 353 days from today in Italy.
“I’d say 90% of the personnel that are playing in this tournament will play in the Olympics,” he said. “If these two teams played a series, it would be close. In a one-game situation, like the Miracle on Ice, any team can win one game.”
Bowman believes the players Thursday need no extra words of motivation from their coaches. “They don’t need any phraseology. They get it. They’re playing against players they know. Players they play against and with. I don’t think there’s any secret potion that either team is going to have.”
Bill Speros (@RealOBF & @BillSperos on X) can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com.