Ostensibly, it was just an exhibition hockey game that was intended to be played at Montreal’s Bell Centre last night, albeit one with a backdrop. The United States and Canada have a long and storied history as on-ice rivals, as YAHOO! Sports’ Kari Anderson observed last night:
USA vs. Canada is the marquee matchup of the 4 Nations Face-off, which also includes Sweden and Finland. But this is also the first time in a while that the passionate rivalry has had a chance to be realized: Saturday’s matchup marked the first time in a decade that the two teams have met with a full roster of NHL All-Stars. The NHL pulled its players out of the 2018 and 2022 Olympics, with Team USA and Team Canada sending youth players and players from other leagues to Pyeongchang and Beijing instead.
Now add to that the current political climate between these two nations, as CBS and THE ASSOCIATED PRESS reported this morning:
A hockey match between rivals the United States and Canada descended into chaos from the moment the puck was dropped as three fights broke out in the first nine seconds. “We needed to send a message,” said American Matthew Tkachuk, who found Canada’s Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.'”
The 4 Nations Face-off game unfolded against the backdrop of uneasy tensions between the North American neighbors and longtime allies, with many fans in the sellout crowd of 21,105 at Bell Centre loudly booing throughout the pregame rendition of the U.S. anthem. It all spilled onto the ice with Tkahuck asking Hagel to drop the gloves and the fourth-line Canada winger engaging in the fight two seconds in.
Tkachuk’s younger brother Brady did the same thing and tussled with Canada’s Sam Bennet the next time the puck was dropped, three seconds in. J.T. Miller dropped gloves with Colton Parayko after a cross-check, and the two went at it to make the trio of bouts in the early going.
The Tkachuks are second-generation NHL scrappers; their dad Keith an enforcer in his own right in his day with the St. Louis Blues. But Matthew now stars for the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers after many years as a hero in Calgary, and Brady just happens to play for the team that represents the capital of Canada, the Ottawa Senators.
So forgive me if I’m of the mindset that perhaps the message they were sending had a bit more that merely hockey gamemanship attached to it. AP dropped another story last night that gave me more than slight pause as to tha possibility:
Fans in Montreal loudly booed the U.S. national anthem prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off game between the Americans and Canada on Saturday night. It’s the second time “The Star-Spangled Banner” drew that reaction in two games the United States has played at the NHL-run international tournament. And it came after public address announcer Michel Lacroix asked the crowd, in French and English, “In the spirit of this great game that unites everyone that you kindly respect the anthems and the players that represent each country.”
This time, far more of the fans at Bell Centre booed than Thursday night before the U.S. beat Finland. The booing began when warrant officer David Grenon of the Royal Canadian Air Force Band started singing and lasted the entire length of the song. “We knew it was going to happen,” U.S. defenseman Zach Werenski said after beating Canada 3-1 and quieting the crowd of over 21,000. “It happened the last game, it’s been happening in the NHL before this and we knew tonight was going to be the same way. We obviously don’t like it.”
The result of the actual game was appropriately secondary; in the context of actual sports significance the only tangible consequence is that it assured that the U.S. will indeed play for the title of this tournament on Thursday night regardless of how their Presidents’ Day tilt with Sweden winds up. Assuming Canada can get by a scrappy Finnish team, a rematch of last night’s high-intensity tilt looms, this time in Boston’s TD Bank Garden.
So far, at least of this writing, there’s been little reaction from anyone other than hockey purists, and the party line from the protagonists remains apolitical, as AP further reported:
Apparently, the idea of the early-game fisticuffs came from a group chat involving the Tkachuk brothers and Miller. Matthew Tkachuk said it had nothing to do with the anthem booing. If anything, players felt it added to the fun of the night.
But with the potential attention that could come with the rematch, I’m concerned that now with practically all of the controversial cabinet appointments behind them Fat Orange Jesus and company might somehow discover that a hockey puck isn’t a sausage patty and begin to weigh in–especially if fans in Boston return the booing of O Canada tomorrow.
And it’s not like the concept of international hockey tournaments and politics haven’t co-mingled before. Veteran fans will long remember the Summit Series of September 1972, where Canada and the then-Soviet Union squared off for eight memorable games just after the horrific incidents of the Munich Olympics. Almost in solidarity U.S. hockey fans found their way to a TV lineup of what was then mostly emerging independent stations to watch this unfold. Paul Henderson, who scored the series-winning goal in a brutally fought series that Canada emerged as a 4-3-1 victor in, is still a folk hero up North, even if his playing days in Ontario in two professional leagues was essentially mediocre.
The Tkachuks may have had their strategic reasons, but considering where they normally ply their trades I’m concerned they will wind up as heroes–or villians–for all the wrong reasons. Brady may be one reason why the Senators have improved enough to have secured a playoff position at the moment, but he’s hardly the most significant. And it sure does appear he has the potential to be a distraction moving forward. As for Matthew, he’s a much more significant presence for the Panthers, who continue to lead their division. He also happens to play mere minutes from Mar-A-Lago. That’s an uncomfortable proximity if you ask me.
I’m glad the participants last night have said that it’s all now out of their system. I’m hoping against hope their fans and neighbors can follow suit.
Courage…