There was a certain heightened tension heading into the United States and Canada’s championship game in the NHL 4 Nation Face-Off.
Not the usual one. Past tilts between the neighboring country’s national teams have always been exciting and meant a little more than other contests. However, this game and its surrounding discourse soured my patriotism for the game to the point that I rooted for Canada.
Let me be clear: I’m an American, and I love this country. My disdain for political systems will never shake that. During this tournament, my hand was forced by the unnecessary American action of dragging politics into the matchup.
The rhetoric, driven by President Donald Trump, of Canada becoming a 51st state spoiled the genuine rivalry between the U.S. and Canada. A ridiculous statement in its own right has no room in sports, let alone the political sphere.
Before we get into Thursday’s championship game, there’s some important context. The United States’ 3-1 win over Canada on Feb. 15 gave way to American chauvinism. How could it not? Three fights in nine seconds. Another political backdrop is booing each other’s national anthems. A 3-1 victory over Canada. In hockey. We beat them at their own game.
The stage was set for a great game there, and that’s what we got. The U.S. win clinched a spot in the championship, while Canada’s 5-3 victory over Finland earned them a place. Another battle between the North American hockey powerhouses.
For me, this is when everything went awry. After the 3-1 United States win, everything was amplified. The national anthem booing. The 51st state discourse. It’s the call from Trump that tipped my scales.
It’s a no-brainer that the president would call the team or at least send them a message. But he injected his rhetoric into the game, thus making it a political affair. Calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “Governor Trudeau” in a statement before the call is absurd.
U.S. defenseman Noah Hanifin’s comments made me completely apathetic to the team.
“Hopefully we can get the win tonight for our country and for Trump,” Hanifin said.
Perhaps I’m overblowing that comment. Maybe I’m taking this all too seriously and being an absolute buzzkill.
There was so much to play for. Hanifin mentions playing for the country. That’s great. There’s the right reason. The team hung up in their locker room the jersey of Johnny Gaudreau, a U.S.-born hockey player who died this past offseason. Play for Gaudreau. Play for your fans. Make that known, not playing for the president.
Regardless of me overblowing the situation or not, this whole ordeal offers so much hypocrisy.
I’d take a guess and say a certain amount of the newfound attention given to the championship game isn’t from new diehard hockey fans. I think the attention comes from the political right.
These conservatives complained of the over-politicization of sports in the past. Those who thought former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick was in the wrong for making sports about something else. The same group that ascertained that athletes should just “shut up and dribble” is now spurring on absurd claims of a 51st state, no matter how much of a joke they think it is.
For those who did so, you’ve confirmed that you only wanted them quiet because they weren’t your views. That’s hypocritical.
I understand this is a generalization. I know there are small, complex thoughts that differ. I understand that some fans don’t agree with the politicization and simply want to watch hockey.
These things are not lost upon me.
However, there was a political motivation for the discourse with the game. I’d argue it was a political hijacking of something that should not have to feel politics’ blinding effects. We were better off watching hockey and rooting for our national teams because they are our teams and not because of a political message of acquiring another country.
The NHL 4 Nations Face-Off offered some of the best hockey the world has seen. Its nation-on-nation action isn’t something we’ve had since the Winter Olympics.
I can only feel like we got distracted from the actual focus of the tournament by making it far more political than it needed to be. That’s a shame for the level of hockey we did indeed receive.