Not Brady or Matthew, this was the first Tkachuk who dropped the gloves against Canada

The Tkachuk brothers set the tone from the get go with two fights at the start of the match. As soon as the puck dropped Matthew Tkachuk dropped the gloves and took on Canada’s Brandon Hagel. “We needed to send a message,” said American Matthew Tkachuk.

Brady Tkachuk, Matthew’s younger brother, followed suit and went toe-to-toe with Sam Bennet. The Tkachuk brothers set the stage for the rest of the night with their two fights at the beginning of the game. They had been planning for it and Team USA needed some motivation after hearing their national anthem get booed and hearing the fans in Montreal cheer the Canadian players. “We had an absolute blast from the start,” they commented after the game.

The third fight was J.T. Miller against Colton Parayko in a miss-match, in which the US forward Miller (6-foot-1) held his own against the Canadian defenceman Parayko (6-foot-6).

Team USA went on to win 3-1 over their biggest rivals in Montreal. The players didn’t fight just to entertain the crowd. They dropped gloves for a reason: the USA team wanted to make a point. They wanted to let the Canadian fans and players know they were there to win and meant business. It set the tone for the game and motivated Team USA. “The Tkachuk brothers and Millsy, what a start, and credit to those guys for answering the bell. And the crowd, just a great night for our sport and a great night for this rivalry.” said Dylan Larkin, the Red Wings’ center originally from Michigan, who scored the go-ahead goal in the second period.

Like father, like sons: Keith Tkachuk dropped the gloves against Canada in 1996

As exciting as the game was, it wasn’t the first time in the history of the US - Canada rivalry that a Tkachuk started off a match with a fight. Rewind to Aug. 31, 1996 in the World Cup of Hockey when the US surprised Canada 5 - 3 in Philadelphia. Keith Tkachuk went toe-to-toe with Claude Lemieux 20 seconds into the game and let the boys from up north know they were in for a long, hard battle that night.

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