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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could not resist a dig at President Donald Trump moments after Canada’s ice hockey team beat the USA in a close final.
“You can’t take our country – and you can’t take our game,” Trudeau wrote on X.
Canada’s thrilling 3-2 overtime win in the 4 Nations Face Off final in Boston took place amid rising tensions between the two neighbours.
Not only is there the looming threat of an economically damaging trade war, there are Trump’s persistent musings on making Canada the 51st US state.
The American national anthem has been regularly booed by Canadian sports fans in recent weeks but this time it was the US home fans doing most of the booing.
As their jeers rang out, the Canadian national anthem was sung with different lyrics in protest over Trump’s statements.
Singer Chantal Kreviazuk changed the lyrics to O Canada in her own protest.
Her representative told CBC News she intentionally sang “that only us command” instead of “in all of us command”.
In a post on Instagram with a photo of the adjusted lyrics, she said: “We should express our outrage in the face of any abuses of power.”
On any ordinary day, this fixture would have been a significant one for the two neighbouring countries who have long been friendly rivals on the ice. But recent events gave it added spice.
And the sudden-death goal from Connor McDavid which sealed the win prompted delirium among the travelling fans.
The US president was unable to make the game but he called the team to wish them good luck.
He also repeated his desire to absorb Canada, writing in a Truth Social post ahead of the game that he hoped the country “will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished and very important, Fifty First State”.
For fans across North America, the final was a “dream match-up,” ice hockey writer Daniel Nugent-Bowman told the BBC. Not since the 2014 Winter Olympics had the top men’s ice hockey players from Canada and the US faced off in such a consequential game.
Both countries boast some of the biggest stars in the National Hockey League (NHL), like Canadians Mitch Marner and McDavid, and Americans Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel. The game was a chance for this new generation of players to prove themselves.
But in Canada, the game was also a personal one, giving both die-hard and casual fans an opportunity to bask in national pride at a time when the country’s sovereignty looks to be threatened by its closest neighbour.
Few Canadians would dispute how integral ice hockey is to the country’s national identity.
The sport has served as a backdrop to some of the most patriotic moments in Canada’s history, like Sidney Crosby’s overtime gold medal goal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Historically, Canada has had the upper hand against the US. The two countries have met 20 times in best-on-best tournaments since the 1976 Canada Cup, with Canada winning 14 of those games.
