Boston (AFP) – Canada’s NHL stars celebrated an emotional 3-2 overtime victory over arch rival United States in Thursday’s Four Nation Face-Off final while Americans took motivation for next year’s Winter Olympics. Connor McDavid scored the title-winning goal 8:18 into overtime to give the Canadians a victory after their homeland endured remarks by US President Donald Trump.
“It means a lot to us,” Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon said. “It’s high stakes. Best players in the world going at it. It was a lot of fun.” Canada fans booed the US anthem in a 3-1 US round-robin win over Canada at Montreal last Saturday after Trump threatened tariffs and repeatedly said Canada should become the “51st state” while dubbing outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “Governor Trudeau.”
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“I don’t know much about politics but USA and Canada right now, we’re playing against each other in a sport… this tournament caught on fire,” MacKinnon said. “Really exciting to be part of it and represent our country.” Intense emotions led to three fights in nine seconds at Montreal, but there was no mayhem and only minor Canadian anthem booing in Boston for the rematch that mattered most, Canada goaltender Jordan Binnington making 33 saves for the victory.
“That was a crazy game. We didn’t know there was going to be fighting like that,” said MacKinnon, the tournament Most Valuable Player with an event-best four goals. “Tonight, Connor came up clutch. Awesome goal. Pure excitement. Binnington was unbelievable the saves he was making.” Asked how he planned to celebrate, MacKinnon said, “A lot of beers. A lot of lot of beers.”
Canada players stood together arms-on-shoulders on the ice watching the Canadian flag be raised as their national anthem played. “We pride ourselves on being the best hockey nation and we’ve got bragging rights,” MacKinnon said. “We’ve got to go out and prove it again next year.” That will be at the Winter Olympics in Italy, where the US squad will be eagerly awaiting another chance to face its border rivals.
“This sucks. I thought this team deserved more. We had chances there to finish it off,” US star Brady Tkachuk said. “This is going to give us nice motivation for one year’s time.” The USA has not won a best-on-best title since beating Canada in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey final. One reason for that is Canada captain Sidney Crosby, who scored the “Golden Goal” overtime game winner to beat the USA in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic final.
“This was just special. Every chance you get to wear the Canadian jersey it’s huge,” Crosby said. “You saw the hockey on display. It was pretty incredible.” US captain Auston Matthews was proud of his group in a losing effort. “We battled our hearts out the whole tournament,” Matthews said. “Tonight we had the opportunities and it didn’t happen but I couldn’t be prouder of this group. We gave 100%.”
US coach Mike Sullivan said it might have been the best hockey he has been involved with. “Couldn’t be more proud of this group. Our team competed extremely hard all night long. It was a tremendous hockey game,” Sullivan said. “I thought it was an incredible display of hockey on both sides. It might have been the best hockey I’ve ever been associated with.”
© 2024 AFP
