Canada may have been heartily celebrating a 4 Nations Face-Off victory on Thursday night, with McDavid’s goal at the 8:18 mark of overtime handing the United States a bitter 3-2 loss during an exhilarating final at TD Garden in Boston. But hockey was the unequivocal winner of this event.

Canada is the undisputed leader in best-on-best tournaments. It overcame a 3-1 loss to the USA in the round robin to prevail. Canada came up short at the 2006 Olympics but won the 2002 and 2010 Olympics ( beating the USA in the final each time), the 2014 Olympics, the 2004 and 2016 World Cup of Hockey and this tournament.