The start of Saturday night’s clash between Team Canada and Team USA was one for the ages with three fights within the first nine seconds of the game.

It started with Brandon Hagel and Matthew Tkachuk two seconds after the opening face-off in a spirited bout that immediately got the crowd to its feet. Emotions were running high with the crowd going nuts in the lead-up to the start of the match, including the boos during the American anthem and loud singing during the Canadian anthem. It was a fight that was seen as a tone-setter right before things could get underway.

At least that’s what people thought a second later in the game when Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett dropped the gloves before the former got a huge prop from his older brother in the penalty box.

Then when it seemed like the fireworks had subsided after six seconds of game time, former Vancouver Canucks forward JT Miller and Colton Parayko exchanged shoves in front of the Canada net and then proceeded to get in a scrap themselves.

It brought the already rocking Bell Centre up to a fever pitch, unlike any that many hockey fans had not seen in quite some time.

As far as Miller’s fight is concerned, he gave a pretty good effort but the size disadvantage was apparent as Parayko never fell to the ice and Miller was fighting an uphill battle. But the fact that it was the tilt that completed a hat trick of scraps before the game was even 10 seconds old was quite a surreal sight.

The political nature of where things stand between the two countries no doubt played a factor in the emotionally charged start, but so too was the genuine excitement of the players on both sides to finally play a meaningful game of international hockey for the first time in a generation.

Having the best the NHL (or PWHL) has to offer to play on the big stage for the pride of their country is when the sport is at its best and most electric. And that’s what Saturday nights game certainly provided with three fights in the first nine seconds, including one involving a former Canuck.