Canada and Team USA faced off in the Four Nations Final hockey tournament in Boston on Thursday, with Canada winning 3-2 in overtime.
The match took on added intensity amid soaring tensions between the longtime allies. President Donald Trump is expected to impose tariffs on Canadian imports in March, and has repeatedly talked of making Canada the “51st state.”
Inspired by those comments, Ian MacKinnon of Cambridge stood outside of TD Garden Thursday night holding a sign that read “Welcome to the USA, Canada’s 11th province.”
MacKinnon, who is Canadian American, said the president needs to stop insulting U.S. allies.
“The U.S. is capable of terror, and that’s why I feel so bad for the Canadians, my blood up there in Canada,” MacKinnon said. “They didn’t hurt anybody. They’re our friends. We’re running over them with a steamroller of cowardice.”
Prior to the game, Trump called Team USA to wish them good luck, according to the White House.
The president posted on social media that he wanted Team USA “to spur them on towards victory tonight against Canada, which with FAR LOWER TAXES AND MUCH STRONGER SECURITY, will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished, and very important, Fifty First State.”
But not all fans were focused on the geopolitical tensions between the neighboring countries.
“This is a hockey game, and it’s a good hockey game with 40 of the best players in the world here,” said Michael Carpenter of Plattsburgh, New York. “It doesn’t have anything to do with politics.”
Brian Babz of Bridgewater said sports bring people together, and ultimately everyone was there just to see what happened on the ice.
“If it was truly a political movement, Donald Trump will be here tonight. Trudeau would be here tonight,” Babz said. “At the end of the day, it’s sports, and we’re having fun.”
Babz said that while he is not choosing a political side, he noticed that some fans have.
“It’s interesting to see a lot of Bostonians that are wearing MAGA hats and Trump-supportive outfits,” Babz said.
When Team USA first took on Canada in Montreal last weekend, three fights broke out within the first nine seconds of the game, and Canadian fans booed the U.S. national anthem.
Fans also booed and chanted “U-S-A” over Chantal Kreviazuk as she began singing “O Canada,” despite TD Garden’s announcer asking fans to refrain from booing each other’s national anthem.
After Canada won last night’s game, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on X “You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game.”
