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
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS