Canada’s Brandon Hagel Takes Shot at Team USA: ‘We’re Playing for the Flag, Not the Cameras’

A war of fists and shoulders erupted Saturday night in Montreal between the U.S. and Canada. Three days later, a war of words continues.

The first of three fights in the first nine seconds of the game involved Canada’s Brandon Hagel, who ended up on the short end of his scrape against Matthew Tkachuk.

Yet, coming up on the short end of his fight and the fact that Team Canada lost the game 3-1 has not discouraged the scrappy Canuck, as he feels the Canadians hold an advantage over the Americans: They’re playing for the flag.

“I think we’re out there playing for the flag, not the cameras,” Hagel said when asked about the matching Team USA’s physicality in Thursday night’s championship game. “That’s a part of Canada that we have in there. We don’t need to initiate anything. We don’t have any group chats going on. We’re going out there playing our game and then giving it everything and doing it for our country. We don’t need to initiate everything. We’re just going to play as hard as we can and do it for the flag on the chest.”

Hagel’s “group chat” reference is due to Team USA’s Brady Tkachuk’s revelation that the Americans had planned to set the tempo for the game with a series of early fights after the first puck drop.

“Yeah, there was a little discussion during the day,” Tkachuk said. “There was a group chat going on today. Still slept like a baby though. Just kind of reaffirmed that we would do that.”

Hagel’s implication that the Americans are playing for media attention and not pride in the flag will no doubt stoke the fires of Team Canada’s rivals to the south. In fact, one shouldn’t be surprised if Hagel finds himself in a scrap early in the championship game.

The 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game will take place Thursday night in Boston at 8 PM EST.