The 4 Nations Face-Off final on Thursday night is one of the most highly-anticipated hockey games in recent history, and it doesn’t even involve the NHL.

Instead, it will be all about country in Boston when the U.S. and Canada play yet another game with everything on the line. And while there are no players from the Big Ten for Team Canada, the conference has its imprint on the American team, led by Winnipeg Jets star left wing and former Michigan standout Kyle Connor.

Connor was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, which is college hockey’s version of the Heisman Trophy, so you don’t have to be a hockey fan to know that Connor was a big-time player in Ann Arbor in 2015-16 before becoming a big-time star in the NHL in Winnipeg.

Connor’s former Michigan teammate, Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski, is now his current teammate with Team USA. Werenski, who played at Michigan from 2014-16, had an outstanding freshman season in Ann Arbor but took it to another level as a sophomore, when he was the top-scoring defenseman in the Big Ten.

The third member of the Team USA-Michigan trio is Detroit Red Wings star center Dylan Larkin, who played in Ann Arbor in 2014-15. Larkin was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year that season and also made the All-Big Ten first team.

The Big Ten’s other contribution to Team USA is former Minnesota defenseman Brock Faber, who played with the Golden Gophers from 2020-23 and was a team captain there.

He’s now with the Minnesota Wild in the NHL, but on Thursday night, like those 3 Michigan products, Faber’s sole mission will be winning a title for the United States and, maybe even better, making sure rival Canada doesn’t win it.