FILE PHOTO
Image Credit: PEXELS
February 20, 2025 - 1:40 PM
It's a match-up for the ages as two national teams are set to face-off this evening.
The puck will drop at 5 p.m. for hockey fans in Kamloops and the Okanagan when the best Canadian and American NHL players battle it out in the final of the first 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
The match will crown the winner of the tournament, following a fight-filled round-robin game on Saturday that saw Canada lose to the USA.
Replacing the NHL's All-Star game, the tournament puts the leagues best players from four countries against each other for the first time in years as they were restricted from playing in international tournaments for the past decade.
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Just one Canadian player, Calgary-born Josh Morrissey, spent part of his early career on one of the Interior's WHL teams.
The defenceman was traded to the Kelowna Rockets amid the 2014-15 season, where he was part of a playoff run that saw the Rockets win a WHL championship then lose out on the Memorial Cup in the final game. He now plays for the Winnipeg Jets.
Canada's roster also has four BC natives on the ice and another on the bench.
Adin Hill is from Comox, while Shea Theodore, Sam Reinhart and Devon Toews were all born in the Lower Mainland. Though head coach Jon Cooper played high school hockey at Notre Dame in Saskatchewan, he was born in Prince George.
No player on the American side was on the Kelowna or Kamloops WHL rosters during their junior careers. The only Vancouver Canucks player, Quinn Hughes, is out with an injury.
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While the game is a sequel to the combative round-robin match, it's also overshadowed by tense political moment between the two countries, with tariff and annexation threats and booed national anthems. President Donald Trump invited "Governor Trudeau" to watch the game with him, referring again to his 51st state comments.
Unlike last year's NHL playoffs, there are no large watch parties being hosted in Kamloops or the Okanagan.
Hockey fans have a host of options with sports bars in every city putting the game on display.
Here are a few options:
Kelowna
Penticton
Vernon
Kamloops
— With files from The Canadian Press and The Associate Press.
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