In an ice hockey grudge match of border rivals fueled by political tensions, Canada defeated the US 3-2 in overtime on Thursday to win the Four Nations Face-Off final.
Canada’s Connor McDavid scored the title-winning goal off a pass from Mitch Marner to deliver Canada the victory after enduring political barbs from US President Donald Trump about being the “51st state.”
“You can’t take our country and you can’t take our game,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — dubbed “Governor Trudeau” by Trump — posted on X moments after the triumph.
Photo: AFP
The victory came in the hard-hitting rematch of a bruising round-robin clash at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Saturday last week between NHL stars that produced three fights in nine seconds in a 3-1 US triumph — but Canada won when it mattered most.
“Just to see the reaction, knowing what it means to us,” McDavid, named the player of the game, said when asked the best part about the win.
“It’s not an Olympic gold medal, but it means the world to our group. Everybody battled so hard. It was special,” he said.
Photo: AP
“It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest, but we found a way,” he added.
“It means a lot to us,” Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon said. “It’s high stakes. [The] best players in the world going at it. It was a lot of fun,” he said.
In the fight for bragging rights ahead of next year’s Winter Olympics in Italy, Canada goaltender Jordan Binnington made several great saves early in overtime and 33 in all.
The tone for a gripping contest was set when microphone-wearing referee Gord Dwyer said, “Let’s get ready for an epic battle,” just before dropping the puck to start the game, which went off without any brawling.
A sellout crowd at Boston’s TD Garden produced an electric atmosphere for one of the most hotly anticipated hockey games for years, an emotionally charged spectacle intensified by recent political sparring between the two North American neighbors.
Trump ratcheted up the anticipation in a pre-game call to the US squad and social media remarks repeating his desire for Canada to become the USA’s “51st state.”
Political fireworks began at last week’s game in Montreal, where Canadian supporters booed the US national anthem after Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Canadian goods.
Despite the public address announcer requesting respect for both team’s national anthems, many US fans booed during the pre-game rendition of O Canada.
When the game in Montreal began, there were three fist-fights in the first nine seconds, a sign the political grudges were spilling onto the ice, but there was no repeat of the mayhem in the final.
“We already made that statement,” US center J.T. Miller told telecaster ESPN. “There’s no time for that.”
No US team has taken a best-on-best crown since the 1996 World Cup while Canada has reached all nine finals of such events and won seven titles.
The inaugural edition of the tournament also featured Finland and Sweden.
Canada drew first blood when Nathan MacKinnon scored through traffic before Auston Matthews wrapped around the goal and Brady Tkachuk jammed home the puck to make it 1-1.
The US took the lead in the second period through Jake Sanderson before Canada’s Sam Bennett leveled and a scoreless third period set up a furious five-on-five overtime, where McDavid emerged the hero for Canada.
The tournament, which the NHL presented in lieu of its traditional All-Star game, has been hugely successful with last week’s game between the US and Canada drawing 10.1 million viewers, the NHL said.
Thursday’s numbers are expected to be even higher, both in terms of viewership and sports betting.
Additional reporting by Reuters
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper on Monday published an essay about Chinese basketball it said was written by LeBron James, but a representative for the NBA star said on Thursday that the article was based on a series of interviews. The paper, better known as the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, had said James authored the essay, “Basketball is a Bridge that Connects Us,” a tribute to Chinese players and fans of the sport written in the first person. “LeBron James Pens an Article in the People’s Daily,” read a post published on the newspaper’s official WeChat account. On Thursday, a representative
San Francisco Giants pitcher Teng Kai-wei impressed against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday despite an 8-1 loss in the opener of the team’s nine-game road trip. Teng, the only Taiwanese pitcher active in MLB, struck out five while allowing two hits and one walk over four innings at Chase Field to finish with a no decision, as the teams were tied 1-1 when he finished his outing. He surrendered the lone run of his outing in the bottom of the first, which began with a walk, a hit-by-pitch and two strikeouts. Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Geraldo Perdomo advanced to third on
RSS