There's so much at stake in the 4 Nations Face-Off final between the U.S. and Canada

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks for rocking with us today. We appreciate you.

So it seems the NHL is cooking with gas these days, huh?

The 4 Nations Face-Off has been fantastic. Not just as an alternative to a relatively meh All-Star weekend, but just generally speaking, we've gotten some good, competitive hockey.

It all comes to a head on Thursday when the United States and Canada play for a second time in the competition's championship game. When coming up with the concept for this tournament, I'm sure this game is the exact thing that made this so appealing for the league's officials.

RIVALRY REKINDLED: The U.S. vs. Canada is the hottest rivalry on ice

There's technically nothing on the line here. This doesn't impact regular season standings. It won't give anyone a leg up in the hunt for the Stanley Cup.

But I can't lie. Even with relatively low stakes on paper, this game feels like a Game 7 in a Cup Finals.

I'm sure it's just the impact of the U.S. vs. Canada rivalry. Would it feel the same if we were talking about Sweden vs. Canada or Finland against the United States?  I doubt it.

But a U.S. vs. Canada game carries so much weight with it.

• The United States hasn't won a best-on-best tournament since the 1996 World Cup when it beat Canada 2-1 in a best-of-3 final.
• Canada has big brothered the U.S. for decades. Our neighbors to the north have gone 14-4-1 in 19 matchups against the U.S.

So while this NHL extravaganza isn't quite the Olympics or the World Cup, there's still a lot riding on this thing.

It's not just bragging rights. This game can shift the current paradigm of international hockey. . The U.S. hockey pipeline has spent years building itself up upon talent like Auston Matthews and the Tkachuk brothers. A United States win proves that the country has finally caught up to its northern counterpart.

A win for Canada means that, well, nothing has really changed. Sidney Crosby might be old, but he's still got it. Connor McDavid and Cale Makar are awesome. The sport still runs through the north and it probably always will. There's still a talent gap. Maybe it's not as wide, but there's a gap nonetheless.

We'll find out what the truth is tonight. I can't wait.

A baseball breakthrough

Guys. GUYS. Bad strike-ball calls might be a thing of the past relatively soon.

The Padres tested an automated ball-strike challenge system during live batting practice on Wednesday. It worked like a charm.

Andrew Joseph has more on what's happening here:

"New for this year’s spring training, a majority of games in the Cactus and Grapefruit League will feature the automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system. Each team will be given two challenges per game (retaining successful challenges), and they have to be immediately initiated by either the batter, pitcher or catcher.

...

In the clip, we could see that Yu Darvish’s called strike out was challenged during live batting practice and overturned to a ball. The process was quick and honestly so cool to see."

This isn't something that will be implemented during the season next year, but the fact that we're seeing MLB teams experiment like this means it's probably in our near future.

A little too late to foil Angel Hernandez, but better late than never.

Put this post in the Louvre

Shoutout to whoever runs the Hornets Reddit account on X. After Charlotte pulled off a 100-97 win over the Lakers — who infamously rescinded the Mark Williams trade a couple of weeks ago — the account posted this beauty.

Guys. Can't rescind this L? That's so deliciously petty. It's the sort of mess that I live for on the internet.

Were the Lakers well within their right to rescind the trade? Absolutely. Should Hornets fans be concerned about Williams going forward? Maybe so! I'm not a doctor so I can't say either way.

What I can say, though, is that I know this win felt great for Hornets fans. And the petty post after it has to be a pretty nice cherry on top.

Quick hits: A pleasant surprise ... Vlad Jr. landing spots ... and more

— Here's Christian D'Andrea on the six teams in the NFL who will benefit from the unexpected salary cap bump this offseason.

— Blake Schuster put together 7 potential landing spots for Vlad Guerrero Jr. Nationals. Get it popping, gang.

— U.S. sports betting revenue is exploding and it isn't stopping anytime soon. Prince Grimes has more.

— Robert Zeglinski says the Bengals might have to keep their Super Bowl window open thanks to the NFL's salary cap bump. Poor (rich) Mike Brown.

— Here are 32 cut candidates for all 32 NFL teams this offseason.

— Here's a look at the U.S. vs. Canada hockey rivalry through the years in 23 photos.

That's a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️