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
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