BOSTON — Matthew Tkachuk doesn’t coach the United States, but he’s the one who made the official announcement Wednesday: The Tkachuk brothers plan to play in Thursday’s 4 Nations Face-Off final against rival Canada, and they mean business.
“I’m ready to go,” said the elder Tkachuk brother, who missed the last 12 ½ minutes of the United States’ win over Canada on Saturday and all of Monday’s loss to Sweden. “It’s going to be an incredible game, and I don’t want to miss it, so I’ll be ready to go.”
As far as Brady Tkachuk, who didn’t practice Wednesday after playing just five shifts against Sweden after losing an edge and crashing into the goal post, Matthew said, “It was a weird, weird play. I didn’t really know what happened. I still really don’t know, like, what happened.
“But I think he’s saving everything he has for (Thursday) night, and I’m very confident he’ll be at his absolute best.”
Coach Mike Sullivan said Brady’s absence Wednesday wasn’t due to the injury but because he wasn’t feeling well. Sullivan anticipates Brady playing in Thursday’s final.
“Whether you like hockey or not, I think our team has helped grow the game here in this country already, and I think a win can just knock that door right down and open a whole new wave of hockey players,” Matthew Tkachuk said.
The Tkachuks have been the heartbeat of Team USA to this point in the tournament. They combined for four goals and an assist in the team’s tournament-opening victory against Finland, and each fought in the first three seconds against Canada.
The brothers admitted after Saturday’s game that they were in a group chat with teammate J.T. Miller where they decided to each fight in Saturday’s game. After Matthew fought Hagel and Brady fought Sam Bennett, Miller sought out anyone during a goalmouth scrum and ended up dropping the gloves with Colton Parayko nine seconds into the contest.
Canada’s Brandon Hagel took a shot at the Tkachuks’ behavior on Tuesday.
“We’re out there playing for the flag, not the cameras,” Hagel said. “That’s a part of Canada that we have in there. We don’t need to initiate anything. We don’t have any group chats going on. We’re going out there playing our game and giving it everything and doing it for our country.”
Matthew Tkachuk sniped back Wednesday, saying, “The other team doesn’t like each other if they don’t have group chats. I think that’s just a player enjoying his opportunity. Our team does not care about anything that they say. 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 playing for them.”
In addition, Auston Matthews, who missed Monday’s game with upper-body soreness, practiced Wednesday and said he’s feeling better and the issue was unrelated to what caused him to miss games earlier this season for the Maple Leafs.
(Photo of Brady and Matthew Tkachuk: Andrea Cardin / Getty Images)
