Can 4 Nations final be hotter than first USA-Canada meeting?

Article content

War on Ice.

Article content

Article content

Since the Second Gulf War it has become uncouth to use battle terms when describing a sporting event. No more “trench warfare” for football, “MASH units” for boxing, “howitzers” for baseball or “torpedoes” for hockey. So is there a more appropriate, less offensive description of what’s anticipated for Thursday’s final game of the 4 Nations Face-Off between Canada and the U.S.?

Article content

The U.S./Canada hockey game Saturday in Montreal was metaphorically a “War on Ice.”

After eliminating NHL-stocked challengers from Sweden and Finland in the round-robin portion of the tournament, the best players from USA and Canada are going to meet in a one-game showdown Thursday in Boston with another heated battle expected between two countries that share the world’s longest undefended border — at the moment — but different political ideologies. One country has a ruler trying to take over the world; Canada doesn’t.

Bill Guerin, general manager of the American squad, on Tuesday invited President Donald Trump to the final. That’s inciteful. Many Canadian fans are already booing American national anthems to show their displeasure about Trump’s plans to apply trade tariffs and incorporate this country as the 51st state.

Canadians have long believed they ruled the hockey kingdom, which is why they were startled during the 1972 Summit Series when Russia’s best players narrowly lost an eight-game series against Canada’s best players. That series was laced with West-versus-East undertones, sports system versus sports system, emotional Canadians against robotic Russians. The 4 Nations Face-Off has resurrected similar sentiments, but this time it’s Canada versus USA and their personalities are showing.

Article content

Article content

With their reliance on college programs and national squads, the Americans have been producing talented male and female hockey players via vastly different methods than Canada. All the world’s best players are no longer strictly Canadians from major junior leagues.

Now the USA wants to prove its might by winning a “Best on Best” tournament organized by the NHL. It is rather amazing the hype generated by this us-versus-them event, to the point where Marjorie Taylor Greene, a controversial U.S. representative from Georgia, has declared herself a hockey fan so she can denigrate another country.

Sports and politics are much more than intertwined. They are inseparable. It’s naive to think otherwise.

Since North American countries started playing national anthems before sporting events, ostensibly to honour their troops during the First World War, every Canadian and American stadium has become a political arena. Anthems aren’t played before concerts or church services or movies. Just sporting events. Fortunately not every country abides by this flawed tradition of asking in song: Whose team is better? Whose system is better? Whose country is better?

Article content

Trying to make money, the NHL understands the political game afoot. Its promotions claim: “For country. For tradition. For honor. Four Nations.” And it shows one of the fights from the Canada/U.S. game.

Baron de Coubertin would be dismayed. But he started it by reinventing the modern Olympic Games, pitting country against country, allowing the world to witness Jesse Owens embarrassing Adolf Hitler, Russia challenging democracies and China dominating its citizens. Politics at their base are all about seizing power. Isn’t “domination” also the simplest definition of sports?

That’s what American brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk were trying to prove — that their team is dominating — when they enthusiastically sparked three fights Saturday in the opening nine seconds of a game they ultimately won 3-1. On that night their hockey team was certainly dominating, maybe inspired by the fisticuffs.

The game was still entertaining. And emotional. Judging by social media reaction, it was also polarizing. Americans hate Canadians. Hockey aficionados loved the violence. Casual fans deplored the fights and switched to curling. What do the players think?

Article content

“We feel we can beat those guys,” Canadian forward Nathan McKinnon told reporters. “We plan on playing a little better Thursday.”

“Stanley Cup Game 7 aside, this is probably the biggest game we’ve all played up until this point,” Matthew Tkachuk said during a telecast, looking ahead to Thursday’s matchup.

It will be interesting when all these players return to their NHL teams to finish the season. Americans, Canadians, Swedes and Finns working together as teammates to win a Stanley Cup after fighting for their countries.

The Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.

With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.

Article content