During the 4 Nations Face Off tournament championship game in Boston on Thursday, some hockey supporters attending the U.S. versus Canada matches at TD Garden audibly booed Canada’s national anthem “O Canada,” sparking a discussion and bringing attention to the tensions existing between the two nations.
What it means: The geopolitical undercurrents of hockey rivalry
The incident occurred during a time of ongoing discussion and friction surrounding the United States’ and Canada’s trade policies. Previous threats by former President Donald Trump to place tariffs upon Canadian imports as well comments about Canada possibly becoming the 51st nation have created a charged environment.
Charles Krupa/AP
The Anthem Incident: Details and Reactions
Before the game began, the announcer on the public address system asked all fans to show respect both for the national anthems as well as the athletes representing each nation. The performance of ‘O Canada’ was booed despite the call for good sportsmanship.
The same incident occurred days before in Montreal when Canadian hockey supporters booed the “Star-Spangled Banner”, a song that was played during an American-Canadian game. In that match, the American team won 3-1. The U.S. national song was also booed by fans in an earlier Montreal game when the American squad played Finland.
Donald Trump posted a Truth Social on Thursday about the game of hockey and the U.S. Canada relationship. In a Thursday post on Truth Social, Donald Trump expressed his desire to support the U.S. Hockey team. He also alluded Canada’s low taxes and better security and suggested that it could become the “Fifty First State.” He used this opportunity to make a comment about Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister.
Trump mentioned that he was unable to attend the Governors’ meeting in D.C. and invited “Governor Trudeau”, if he so desired, to come along.
Trump implemented tariffs against Canadian and Mexican imports while in office. This caused economic tensions. The tariffs, which were put on hold later, also included discussions about imposing “reciprocal tariffs” on other countries that engaged in unfair trading practices with the U.S.
Public and official Reactions
White House press secretary Karoline Laavitt showed her support to the U.S. squad: Let’s Go USA! 🇺🇸” via X (formerly Twitter).
Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA and conservative commentator, stated his opinion on the anti-anthem protests: “In the rematch between Team USA and Team Canada, the Boston crowd boos the Canadian anthem and then follows with chants of ‘USA USA!’ “Booing the anthem is bad practice in general, but, let’s face it, they did this first, and they got what they deserved.”
Updates to this story are possible.