INITIATING brawls with our Canadian friends only shows those starting these fights are as ignorant as NOT MY pres drumpf / trump. drumpf / trump has insulted Canada with his comments about making Canada the 51st state and threatening to impose tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S. Who but an idiot says these things to a friend, and who but an idiot would defend these ignorant comments? I wish Canadians did not boo our national anthem, it is insulting Americans who are opposing the fascist agenda of the drumpf / trump-vance autocratic oligarchy. I hope the booing of our national anthem in Canada will soon stop, I hope the brawling by "sportsmen" will soon stop, and I know Canada will celebrate with America when our long national nightmare is over on 20 January 2029.
Booing an anthem? Three fights in nine seconds? Welcome to USA-Canada hockey.
Fans in Montreal continued to boo the American national anthem and a string of fights followed in the United States’ entertaining win over Canada in Saturday night’s 4 Nations Face-Off game.
Cindy Boren arrived at The Post in 2000 as an assignment editor in charge of baseball and NFL/Washington Football Team coverage. She switched to full-time writing, focusing on national sports stories and issues, when she founded The Early Lead blog in 2010
There hadn’t been a fight in an international hockey tournament since the NHL hosted the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, but there hasn’t been an international hockey tournament at a time of such strained relations between the United States and Canada.
The matchup was an emotional one for Canadian fans who booed “The Star-Spangled Banner” despite the public address announcer asking — in French and English — “in the spirit of this great game that unites everyone that you kindly respect the anthems and the players that represent each country.” Montreal fans also booed before Team USA’s 6-1 victory against Finland on Thursday, prompting forward Matthew Tkachuk to say afterward, “I didn’t like it, and that’s all I got.” The boos, which were louder Saturday night, were a continuation of those at NBA and NHL games in Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver earlier this month as well.
“We knew it was going to happen,” U.S. defenseman Zach Werenski told reporters Saturday night. “It happened the last game, it’s been happening in the NHL before this, and we knew tonight was going to be the same way. We obviously don’t like it.”
“There should not be any of that. We’re here to play a hockey game. They can boo all they want during the games. The anthems should be off limits,” Canada’s Brad Marchand, who plays for the Boston Bruins, told reporters Thursday. Players, he added, “have nothing to do with the political things that are going on.”
U.S. players were prepared for the reception. “It is what it is,” Werenski said. “We kind of had an idea. We used it as motivation the best we could and found a way to get a win. But we had an idea going into it, so it wasn’t a surprise. Definitely don’t like it, though.”
The Tkachuk brothers — Matthew and Brady — were at the heart of the players’ plan to come out swinging. The fisticuffs marked the fastest fight to start an NHL international game, beating the record of 20 seconds. That dubious achievement occurred in 1996, when Canada’s Keith Primeau and Claude Lemieux fought Team USA’s Keith Tkachuk, father of Matthew and Brady, and Bill Guerin in the World Cup of Hockey.
“We needed to send a message,” Matthew Tkachuk said after Team USA’s win. “We’re here in Montreal on a Saturday night. We want it to be our time, and that message started right from the get-go.”
The puck had barely hit the ice when Matthew Tkachuk, who plays for the Florida Panthers, and Brandon Hagel, who plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning, dropped gloves in a continuation of their NHL teams’ rivalry. After Matthew Tkachuk headed to the penalty box, Brady Tkachuk, whose NHL team is the Ottawa Senators, fought Sam Bennett, his older brother’s Panthers teammate, after the second faceoff, with Matthew Tkachuk pounding the glass in support. Then, J.T. Miller of the New York Rangers fought Colton Parayko of the St. Louis Blues after the two tangled in front of Canada’s net.
Miller was thrilled to be part of the Tkachuk brothers’ plan, calling it “the coolest experience I’ve probably had on the ice, one of them. To hear the building like that, it’s something you’ll never forget. There’s a lot of bad blood, but at the same time, tons of respect for the other team.”
It was part of the American players’ strategy to take the fight to Canada immediately. “There was a little discussion during the day,” Brady Tkachuk said after being encouraged by his brother to “tell the truth” as they addressed reporters.
“Yeah, there was a group chat going on today,” he added. “We just reaffirmed we were going to do that. I think Matthew’s fight to start it off was just such an energy boost. I think I was more excited, more nervous for my own. And then for Millsy to cap it off against a big guy like that, he did a great job. It was a pretty awesome experience.”
With a spot in the final of the round-robin tournament secured, Team USA plays Sweden on Monday night while Canada and Finland play Monday afternoon as the tournament moves to Boston’s TD Garden. The final is Thursday night.
A previous version of this article incorrectly said J.T. Miller plays for the Vancouver Canucks. He was traded to the New York Rangers in January. The article has been corrected.
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