Why are hockey fans booing the national anthems at the 4 Nations Face-Off between Canada and the USA?

The NHL took a chance with their Four Nations Face-Off, and that chance is paying big dividends for the league and the sport in general. After the All-Star Game had become watered down to the point of unwatchable over the last few years, commissioner Gary Bettman introduced a new tournament that has renewed rivalries and opened up old wounds.

No friendly atmosphere in exhibition tournamnet

The US and Canada have almost always maintained friendly relations when it comes to politics, trade and commerce. That hasn’t always been the case when it comes to hockey. The hockey rivalry has seen bitter hatred, bloody battles and bone-crunching melees over the years and the first matchup between these two in this “exhibition tournament” was been no different.

The timing for the matchup comes at an interesting moment in history. Tensions are reaching an all time high between the two countries that have been allies for centuries and President Trump is at the heart of the conflict. Once sworn in for a second term, he wasted no time taking aim a a few countries that he wanted to place tariffs on, and Canada was one of those countries. That didn’t make the Canadians too happy, and since then have been voicing their displeasure during the National Anthems played before NHL, and NBA games.

The new international tournament has been another platform for the neighbors to the north to boo the Star Spangled Banner as the first half of the tournament was played in Montreal. The Canadians in attendance on Saturday night didn’t shy away from jeering Team USA and it’s anthem following Trump’s 25% tariff on Canadian goods, and recent comments from the president that Canada should be annexed and join the United States as it’s 51st state.

Political tension leads to boos

Those boos were a precursor to the Battle Royale ensued in the first period of the USA vs. Canada game. We saw three fights in the first 10 seconds of the opening matchup between these two teams on Saturday night. There were a couple reasons for the fight, if we are looking to justify them.

First of all, the bad blood between the two teams is evident, and these two teams haven’t met in a “best-on-best” game since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Title game tonight

Second of all, Matthew and Brady Tkachuk had some unfinished family business with the Canadian team. Their dad, Kieth, fought Claue Lemieux back in 1996. Mr. Tkachuk said his guys set the tone for what was an incredible game, “And I’m proud of them. They’re always team-first guys. It was great for the crowd, it was great for the game, and it was great for USA,” he said.

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Third reason for the fight was certainly the booing. There may have been some bad blood coming into the game, but the booing might have expedited the fights as Team USA looked to unleash some pent up anger as soon as the puck dropped.

Tonight, we get round two of USA vs. Canada and this one is going to be good. It’s the title game between two rivals who are looking to take the inaugural Four Nations Face-Off. Remember, this is an unofficial tournament that was put in place by the league to replace the All-Star Game, but it’s going to feel like Game 7 of the Stanley Cup from Boston tonight.