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MONTREAL — The United States of America took it on the chin again before the puck was even dropped Saturday night at the Bell Centre.
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Despite the best efforts by public address announcer Michel Lacroix to ask the faithful to show respect for both anthems before The Star-Spangled Banner and O Canada were performed before the United States took on host Canada in a sold-out arena.
All this came on Flag Day in Canada as the Maple Leaf celebrated its 60th anniversary. The atmosphere in the arena was wild because fans were handed Canadian flags to wave when they came in the door, and that just further fueled the pride in this country.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in the house to witness first-hand hockey fans from his country booing the U.S. anthem for the second straight game. There were also loud jeers before the U.S. team played its opener against Finland here on Thursday.
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The booing started at the Canadian Tire Centre on Feb. 1 in Ottawa, one day after U.S. President Donald Trump reached an agreement with Trudeau to hold off on imposing tariffs on goods from Canada going into the United States for a month.
“It’s an evening that we shouldn’t have missed,” Trudeau told TVA Sports in an interview before the game. “Canada-United States, it’s always something anyway … in addition, with the broader context, we know it very well, there is an intensity today. With the flag day, everything aligns.”
Trudeau, who met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman before the game, said Canadians like to rally around hockey.
“We have been given a perfectly legitimate reason to shout out loud that we are Canadian, that we are proud to be so, and that we will remain so for a long time,” he said
The jeering of the anthem is about sending a message to Trump that people here don’t want to listen to any more discussions about tariffs or this country becoming the 51st state because Canada is doing just fine.
Former Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price was in the audience for this one and was hopeful the booing would stop. His wife, Angela, is from the United States.
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“I’m Canadian, my wife is American, and I hope we see a lot of respect for the anthems,” Price told Postmedia before the game. “I think we should just put all politics aside and play a good, old-fashioned hockey game.”
The issue has only grown because Trump has talked about annexing Canada to make it part of the United States. He constantly refers to the Prime Minister as “Governor Trudeau” and it has caused division between the two countries that has turned rinks into a political arena.
The American players don’t like hearing their anthem booed.
“I didn’t like it. That’s all I got,” winger Matthew Tkachuk said after fans jeered during the anthem before the United States recorded a 6-1 victory over Finland on Thursday.
Some of the U.S.-born players are trying to use it as a rallying cry.
The U.S. players were booed loudly every time they were shown on the scoreboard during the warmups and they expected to get that kind of treatment through the course of the game.
“I think we like it,” American forward J.T. Miller said. “Not politically, but we just had a sense of, we know where we’re at in Canada, and I think that fires us up more than anything.”
Retired Canadian General Rick Hillier was also trying to encourage Canadians not to boo their closest neighbour’s anthem.
“I’d love to see the Canadian team go, all of them, and stand shoulder to shoulder with the US team as soon as The Star-Spangled Banner starts at the 4 Nation Game on Saturday night. Be classy,” Hillier posted on X.
bgarrioch@postmedia.com
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