Canada captain Sidney Crosby, proper, hoists the trophy after defeating the US following an extra time interval of the 4 Nations Face-Off championship hockey recreation, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photograph/Charles Krupa)
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BOSTON — Once they performed “O Canada” for the second time, there have been no American followers left within the area to boo.
As an alternative, the Canadian group stood on the blue line, arm in arm, participant and coach, sporting their championship hats whereas the maple leaf flag was lowered behind the 4 Nations Face-Off trophy and the nationwide anthem reverberated throughout the Individuals’ residence ice. The followers who remained, lots of them of their purple Staff Canada jerseys, sang alongside.
Connor McDavid scored at 8:18 of extra time to offer Canada a 3-2 victory over the US on Thursday evening because the North American rivals turned what had been a tune-up for the 2026 Olympics right into a geopolitical brawl over anthems and annexation as a lot as worldwide hockey supremacy.
Or, to place it one other means: It was the 51st U.S. state 3, Canada’s eleventh province 2.
“You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on X in a cross-border callback to President Donald Trump’s chatter about turning one of many United States’ closest allies right into a 51st state. Earlier Thursday, Trump had referred to as him “Governor Trudeau.”
”Quite a lot of stuff occurring with Canada and the USA proper now, and us taking part in towards one another was type of an ideal storm for our sport,” stated Nathan MacKinnon, who was chosen the MVP of the brand new event with 4 targets in 4 video games. “It was much more popular than even we would have imagined. It was getting so much attention from our whole continent.”
MacKinnon and Sam Bennett additionally scored for Canada, and Jordan Binnington stopped 31 photographs — together with the final 20 in a row — on the identical ice the place he helped the St. Louis Blues win the Stanley Cup as a rookie 5 years in the past.
After a flurry of saves by Binnington, the Canadians gained a faceoff within the U.S. zone and Mitch Marner obtained the puck alongside the boards earlier than popping it into the middle for McDavid.
The Canadians poured over the boards to have a good time, shook arms with the vanquished Individuals, after which took turns skating with the never-before-awarded trophy.
“Just to see the reaction. Just to know what it means to us. I know it’s just a quick tournament, and it’s not an Olympic gold medal or anything like that, but it means the world to our group, as you can see,” McDavid stated.
“I hope (the new fans) love it,” he stated. “It’s a great game, it’s a great sport and I hope we put on a good show these last couple days and gained some fans, ultimately. You can’t ask for a better show than that.”
Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson scored for the Individuals, and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 photographs in regulation and three extra in OT. The U.S. has misplaced all however one recreation towards Canada in best-on-best worldwide play relationship to the preliminary spherical of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics; the lone victory was within the 4 Nations round-robin on Saturday, a recreation so good it turned Thursday’s sequel into one of many most anticipated worldwide hockey occasions in many years.
“I think guys that are at home watching this, I’m hoping they’re wanting a piece of it,” U.S. ahead Dylan Larkin stated. “This grew the game really well, but I hope it pushes guys to want a piece of this and then the next generation that got to watch this, they’re going to watch the Olympics next year and hopefully there’s a different outcome.”
The already ripe rivalry between the 2 North American hockey powers took on an added depth in the course of the event following Trump’s tariff threats and speak of constructing Canada the 51st U.S. state. Trump referred to as the American group Thursday morning to want it nicely, then turned to Reality Social to take a poke at “Governor Trudeau.”
The political backdrop mixed with the standard of the round-robin recreation, which the US gained 3-1 on Saturday, to convey the environment of a Stanley Cup Ultimate or Olympic gold medal recreation to the TD Backyard.
Followers of their group jerseys waved flags, shouted for his or her countrymen and continued the ritual booing of the opposing nationwide anthem that has turn out to be an nightly undercard for a event that was the return of NHL stars to the worldwide scene after lacking the final two Winter Olympics.
The American followers chanted “U-S-A! U-S-A!” to spur on the house group; within the third interval, a cheer of “Johnny Hockey! Johnny Hockey!” reminded the gamers that they have been taking part in for the reminiscence of former Boston School and Calgary Flames star Johnny Gaudreau, who was killed by a drunk driver whereas bicycling in New Jersey at his sister’s wedding ceremony final summer time.
“Miracle on Ice” Olympic hero and honorary U.S. captain Mike Eruzione wore a Gaudreau jersey throughout a pregame ceremonial puck drop with Canadian counterpart Wayne Gretzky.
“We wanted this one,” Canada ahead Mark Stone stated. “You’ve got 40 million Canadians, sitting at home, and you feel the energy. Anytime you have the chance to play for our country, or the flag on our chest, it’s a special, special feeling. … It brings us together. And just glad we got to get this one.”