COLUMBUS — Exhibition hockey before we’ve reached the mid-point of September.
Can’t be taken seriously, right?
As if.
Certainly, the Team Canada-Team USA combatants on Friday night played as though something was on the line.
Reminders that the two hockey nations are bitter rivals were all over the ice at Nationwide Arena in the first 2016 World Cup of Hockey tuneup for both clubs. By the time it was done, the United States had recovered from a slow start to beat the Canadians 4-2, enticing the crowd of 17,791 to chant “USA, USA!” throughout.
If there was any doubt the players were going to eschew hard-hitting, at-times chippy hockey, it was erased quickly.