4 Nations Face-Off Uniform Breakdowns
Good Monday Morning, Uni Watchers, and a Happy Presidents Day to all.
Back in late January, the 4 Nations Face Off jerseys were unveiled, and at the time, we hadn’t seen the helmets, breezers or socks each of the four nations involved (Canada, Finland, Sweden, USA) would be sporting for this round-robin tournament. The games officially began last Wednesday, with Canada taking on Sweden, and on Thursday, the USA played Finland. On Saturday, Sweden played Finland, and in the big game on Saturday night, Canada and the US squared off. All of these games took place at the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens.
The games will now move to the home of the Bruins, the TD Garden, for the next set of games: today we have Canada vs. Finland (1:00 pm ET), with the USA vs. Sweden (8:00 pm) closing out the round robin. With two wins in two games, the United States is guaranteed a spot in the final, which will be played Thursday night at 8:00 pm. You can get caught up with all the previous action here.
I watched almost all of the Wednesday and Thursday night games, as well as Saturday Night’s feature, and I have to say, for the most part, I’ve been very impressed with the uniforms sported by all four nations. Each nation only has one uniform for the tournament, and with only Finland wearing white sweaters, every other game has been color vs. color.
Let’s take a look at each nation’s uniform individually, and then how they looked when matched up.
Canada
The Canadians looked excellent in their red sweaters, with black helmets and pants — a classic look. Instead of using white for an accent, Canada opted to go with an off-white color for its jersey stripes and socks, with off-white numbers outlined in black. They also featured a solid red maple leaf on the right side of the pants.
I’m not generally a fan of uniforms that use off-white as a base color (especially when attempting to give a uniform an “old time” appearance), but as an accent, I think it looks fantastic for Canada. The uniforms also featured off-white NOB, and jersey numbers were very large and easy to read.
More photos here:
Finland
The Finns were decked out in white buckets, white sweaters, navy breezers and white, striped socks. Their navy blue color blocks were accented with royal blue. White TV numbers in a rounded font sat atop the navy blue portion of the sleeve, and rear numbers were in navy with a royal blue outline. NOB was solid navy.
This is another very good looking uniform. I’ve often said royal and navy are very hard to pair together, but the Finns make it work.
More photos here:
Sweden
The Swedes may have the best-looking uniform of all. Their gold sweaters featuring the blue tre kronor logo (also seen in reverse on the right pant leg), along with their blue helmets and breezers are just gorgeous. Gold socks with two blue stripes, matching those of the sweater sleeves, complete the ensemble. But the best feature of the uniforms is the Swedish flag created by using negative space near the elbows.
Gold and navy (and no other colors or shades) look fantastic when paired together, and the Swedish team does it remarkably well. Blue NOB and bespoke number fonts round out the set.
More photos here:
United States
The USA, of course, is sporting red, white, and blue, with white helmets, and blue jerseys, pants and socks. It’s quite a dark shade of navy at that.
I was a little bit concerned going in that the beveled gradient for the “USA” logo and/or the numbers wouldn’t look good in action, but it was fine and didn’t affect legibility at all. NOB were solid white. My only real criticism, and it’s minor, is the white helmet over an all-blue uniform, and the use of a lower-case “n”. I don’t like the w/b/b/b look in football, and it’s not much better on ice.
More photos here:
Canada vs. Sweden
Finland vs. USA
Finland vs. Sweden
Canada vs. USA
But overall I thought all of the uniforms are very good to excellent, and all four matchups between the teams so far have been great.
If you’re curious as to why the four nations were chosen to play in the tournament, it was done by ranking, but with a slight twist: all participating teams were ranked in the top six by ice hockey’s worldwide governing body, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF): Canada (1), Finland (2), United States (4) and Sweden (6). Germany, while ranked fifth, didn’t have enough NHL players to create a roster, while Russia — ranked third — was excluded from play. (Russia was specifically excluded due to the ban imposed on it by the IIHF for its ongoing war in Ukraine.
You may have noticed the NHL held no All-Star Game this season — for 2025, the 4 Nations Face-Off replaced the ASG, but just for one year. The NHL will hold an All-Star Game in 2026 to send off NHL players to the Olympics in Milan, and the plan is to alternate the World Cup of Hockey and the Olympics every two years afterward, with the NHL pausing during each so NHL players can represent their home nations in those events. The return of NHL players to the Olympics is most welcome, and hasn’t happened since 2014.
NHL players have participated in the Olympics five times: Nagano (1998), Salt Lake City (2002), Turin (2006), Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014). According to this from the NHL:
NHL players didn’t participate in PyeongChang in 2018, because the NHL did not reach an agreement with the NHLPA, the IIHF and the International Olympic Committee.
Then came COVID-19.
The pandemic disrupted the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. The NHL and NHLPA had to work together to get through it. In the process, they agreed to go to the Olympics in Beijing in 2022 and Milan in 2026 if they also could reach agreements with the IOC and the IIHF.
In the end, the NHL had to pull out of the Olympics in 2022 because of the pandemic. But the seed was planted for 2026 and beyond.
While I watch a decent amount of NHL hockey, I absolutely love the international competitions. And while the 4 Nations Face-Off only features four teams, it’s still a nice in-season treat. It’s not known if the 4NFO (or something resembling it) will occur in odd years going forward, but if the 2025 tournament is viewed as a success, it’s very possible it will return in some form for 2027. But for now, we can enjoy today and tonight’s games and Thursday’s final.
Your thoughts?
Guess the Game from the Scoreboard
Guess The Game…
…From The Scoreboard
Today’s scoreboard comes from Howard Edelman.
The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I’ll post a scoreboard and you guys simply identify the game depicted. In the past, I don’t know if I’ve ever completely stumped you (some are easier than others).
Here’s the Scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the game (date and location, as well as final score). If anything noteworthy occurred during the game, please add that in (and if you were AT the game, well bonus points for you!):
Please continue sending these in! You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.
Guess the Game from the Uniform
Based on the suggestion of long-time reader/contributor Jimmy Corcoran, we’ve introduced a new “game” on Uni Watch, which is similar to the popular “Guess the Game from the Scoreboard” (GTGFTS), only this one asked readers to identify the game based on the uniforms worn by teams.
Like GTGFTS, readers will be asked to guess the date, location and final score of the game from the clues provided in the photo. Sometimes the game should be somewhat easy to ascertain, while in other instances, it might be quite difficult. There will usually be a visual clue (something odd or unique to one or both of the uniforms) that will make a positive identification of one and only one game possible. Other times, there may be something significant about the game in question, like the last time a particular uniform was ever worn (one of Jimmy’s original suggestions). It’s up to YOU to figure out the game and date.
Today’s GTGFTU comes from Larry Stetson.
Good luck and please post your guess/answer in the comments below.
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