Boston (AFP) – In an ice hockey grudge match of border rivals fueled by political tensions, Canada defeated the United States 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,” outgoing Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — dubbed “Governor Trudeau” by Trump — posted on X moments after the triumph. The victory came in the hard-hitting rematch of a bruising round-robin clash Saturday between NHL stars that produced three fights in nine seconds in a 3-1 US triumph — but Canada won when it mattered most.
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“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. It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest but we found a way.”
“It means a lot to us,” Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon added. “It’s high stakes. Best players in the world going at it. It was a lot of fun.” 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. US leader Trump ratcheted up the anticipation in a pre-game call to the American squad and social media remarks repeating his desire for Canada to become the USA’s “51st state.”
Political fireworks began last Saturday in a 3-1 US round-robin victory over Canada at Montreal, where Canadian supporters booed the US national anthem after Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Canadian goods. By comparison, there were only a smattering of boos in Boston for the start of the Canadian anthem. 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. Canada’s MacKinnon opened the scoring 4:48 into the first period. He blasted a shot through a maze of US players in front of the net and over the left shoulder of US goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. He scored four goals to lead the tournament to earn Face-Off Most Valuable Player honors.
Brady Tkachuk netted the equalizer for the USA with 3:08 remaining in the first period, chipping a pass from US captain Auston Matthews past Binnington for his third tally of the tournament. Jake Sanderson, a 22-year-old defenseman added as an injury replacement just before the tournament began, gave the Americans their first lead 7:31 into the second period, firing the puck through traffic in front of Binnington for a 2-1 US advantage.
“I was shaking I was so fired up,” Sanderson said of finding out he was on the team. “It’s a blessing to be here with these guys.” Sam Bennett lifted Canada level with 6:00 remaining in the second period, taking a pass from Mitch Marner and firing the puck over Hellebuyck and just under the crossbar, setting the stage for a scoreless third period and overtime.
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