USA-Canada rivalry takes center stage in 4 Nations Face-Off final: What to know

Team USA 4 Nations Face-Off GM Bill Guerin joins 'America's Newsroom' to discuss the United States clinching a spot in the championship game of the tournament by beating Canada in a heated game. 

The 4 Nations Face-Off will finish exactly how the National Hockey League drew it up: a USA-Canada final.

The two squads battled it out on Saturday in what was their first meeting in a best-on-best format in nine years, and a raucous Montreal crowd that booed "The Star-Spangled Banner" was delivered an immediate treat with three fights in the first nine seconds, including two in the first three.

The rivalry stretches over plenty of time, but with political tensions between the two countries, it's now hotter than ever before. 

Before diving into Thursday night's final, let's take a look at some of the rivalry's history and how we got to where we are today.

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Canada's Brandon Hagel, left, fights United States' Matthew Tkachuk during the first period of the 4 Nations Face-Off game in Montreal on Saturday. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press via AP)

The World Juniors have been nicer to the Americans in recent years: each of the last four gold-medal games between the two countries have gone to the Americans, most recently in 2021. However, this is the big leagues.

The very first meeting between the two countries in a best-on-best format was back in the 1976 Canada Cup, which Team Canada won, 4-2; the Americans did not earn their first win over their northern neighbors until the 1996 World Cup of Hockey after losing seven of their first eight meetings, and tying in the other.

The U.S. won that year's World Cup, taking home the best-of-three series against Canada, but since then, it's mostly