Canada, USA meet again: Why there won't be repeat of 4 Nations fights

Mike Brehm, USA TODAYSat, February 21, 2026 at 11:05 AM UTC

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Canada and the USA are meeting in the men's hockey gold medal game, just as they had in the 4 Nations Face-Off final.

That 2025 tournament was famous for the three fights in the first nine seconds of the team's first meeting in the round robin.

But there almost certainly won't be a repeat at the Olympics. Players can't take the risk in such a high-stakes game.

Even though all six combatants in that wild opening are in Milan, including USA brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, the International Ice Hockey Federation prohibits fighting, and it could lead to an ejection and a suspension.

There was a sort of fight in this year's Olympics - more like a wrestling match - and the players were ejected.

"Fighting is not part of international ice hockey's DNA," the IIHF states in Rule 46 of its rulebook.

"Players who willingly, participate in a 'brawl/fight' so-called 'willing combatants,' shall be penalized accordingly by the referee(s) and may be ejected from the game," the rulebook says. "Further supplementary discipline may be imposed."

International rules on hockey fights

Rule 46, which addresses fighting, has 13 sections. Penalties are more severe than in the NHL, which sends players to the penalty box for five minutes.

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"Any player who persists in continuing or attempting to continue a 'fight or altercation' after they been ordered by the referee to stop, or who resists a linesperson in the discharge of their duties shall, at the discretion of the referee, incur at least a major penalty, plus an automatic game misconduct penalty," the rulebook says.

Instigating a fight brings an automatic game misconduct, compared to a misconduct in the NHL, and being an aggressor and continuing a fight to inflict damage also brings an ejection. So does being third man in.

Referees have latitude in making calls. A unwilling combatant who throws a punch or two in defense could avoid a game misconduct.

What was the fight at the 2026 Olympics?

Canada's Tom Wilson went after France's Pierre Crinon over his earlier hit on Nathan MacKinnon.

It wasn't much of a fight, more of a wrestling match with gloves dropped but no real punches thrown. IIHF rules, though, state that a fighting penalty can be called if "players wrestle in such a manner as to make it difficult for the linespersons to intervene and separate the combatants."

Both Wilson and Crinon were ejected. They received two minutes for roughing, five for fighting and a game misconduct.

The IIHF decided not to suspend them, though the French hockey team did suspend Crinon because of his "provocative behavior when he came out of the ice."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Olympics fighting ban explained: Why USA, Canada won't drop gloves

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