Canadian forward Brad Marchand USA TODAY Sports

Brad Marchand rips Tkachuk brothers after Canada win

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Treppedi | Last updated Feb 21, 2025 6:33 PM ET

Canada had the last laugh against the United States, winning the 4 Nations Face-Off championship, 3-2, in overtime.

Canadian forward Brad Marchand was sure to have the last word with Matthew and Brady Tkachuk.

“The Tkachuk brothers, they play their game, they do what they do. Sometimes, when you shoot your mouth off to the media, it bites you,” Marchand said. “You can do that during the season, but when you’re playing best-on-best, it’s different, you know? And they got a little bit ahead of themselves.

“But they’re great players. There are not many guys in the league that do what they do, and they’re extremely effective. But when you start giving teams ammo, it can work against you as well.”

Marchand is referring to the media attention over a group chat that Matthew confirmed he had with Brady and J.T. Miller to orchestrate an initiative to fight early in the game ahead of the round-robin matchup between the two nations last Saturday.

“The message we wanted to send is, ‘It’s our time right now,’” Matthew said.

That sparked a reaction from Canadian forward Brandon Hagel, who Matthew fought off the opening draw last Saturday.

“We’re out there playing for the flag, not the cameras,” Hagel said, per 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. We’re going out there playing our game, giving it everything and, like I said, doing it for our country.”

Matthew responded with wit leading into Thursday's final.

“Maybe their team doesn’t like each other then if they don’t have group chats,” Tkachuk responded to reporters. “That’s just a player enjoying his opportunity. I think that our team does not care about anything that they say.”

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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