Cold War in ice hockey

Donald Trump hates basketball and loves ice hockey. He has mentioned this on a few occasions: he considers the sport of basketball to be a hotbed of political dissent and anti-American propaganda. The sport of stick and puck, on the other hand, is (for him, at least) as dignified, noble and patriotic as baseball or American football.

On February 20, Trump used his Truth Social account to announce that he was going to take a break from his duties to watch “a great game” of ice hockey between the United States and Canada at the TD Garden in Boston. Hours later — when the game ended with a 3-2 Canadian victory, after a goal in overtime — the president didn’t reappear on social media. However, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — Canada’s prime minister — did. He celebrated the goal on X: “You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game.”

The duel between the two North American giants generated a television audience of 16.2 million viewers, making it the second most-watched ice hockey game of the last decade. It was also the most successful sports broadcast in the United States since the NBA finals last June and the Super Bowl on February 9.

Canada’s victory was celebrated with euphoria. Head coach Jon Cooper said: “This one was different. This wasn’t a win for themselves. This was a win for 40-plus million people.” No one seemed to remember that it was just a simple friendly tournament — the 4 Nations Face-Off — to which the two finalists from February 20 (along with Finland and Sweden) had been invited.

A few months ago, the U.S. professional league — the NHL — decided to organize the tournament, replacing the traditional All-Star Game, which had been held since 1947 but had garnered poor ratings in recent years. Fans received the change with great expectations: after all, the U.S. team and Scandinavians will face each other again next year at the Winter Olympics. What no one expected was the geopolitical overtones that this kind of appetizer would acquire.

The qualifying round — a single-match play-off between the four invited teams, with overtime and a “golden goal” in the event of a tie — was played between February 12 and 17 in Boston and Montreal. Canada defeated Sweden and the United States defeated Finland. The Swedes beat the Finns. And, on February 15 — at the Bell Centre in Montreal, in front of more than 21,000 spectators — Canadians and the U.S. faced off.

Consider the background: Trump had just threatened his northern neighbor with imposing prohibitive tariffs on goods. And, amidst the negotiations, he referred to the Canadian prime minister as “Governor Trudeau,” thus reiterating his very undiplomatic desire for the nation to become the 51st state.

The match began with massive booing of the U.S. anthem. In just nine seconds of actual play, there were three clashes between players, instigated largely by U.S. player Matthew Tkachuk, who considered the whistles to be an intolerable lack of respect. Comedian Dan Guiry summed up the reaction as follows: “If you threaten to annex your neighbor, don’t expect them to applaud your anthem.” The United States won the match by a score of 3-1. However, this ultimately proved inconsequential, as both teams would go on to beat the Swedes and Finns and qualify for the final.

Francesco Screti — an academic — once noted that soccer is the continuation of war by other means. This is perhaps the reason for the excessive euphoria with which Canada celebrated its army’s victory on the ice.

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