Hockey fans in Montreal loudly booed the American national anthem before passionately singing O Canada ahead of Saturday night’s showdown between Canada and the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The Bell Centre crowd gave the Canadian team a hero’s welcome when players skated onto the ice after being introduced by legendary MMA fighter Georges St-Pierre.
The mood quickly changed when warrant officer David Grenon of the Royal Canadian Air Force Band launched into the opening lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner as people began jeering from the stands.
Under the watchful eye of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Montreal spectators lustily booed despite public address announcer Michel Lacroix’s request for fans to respect both anthems.
The energy dramatically flipped again when Grenon shifted to singing O Canada. He asked fans to sing with him before holding the mic up to the crowd, which belted out the country’s anthem.
The players then responded with three fights in the opening nine seconds.
Canada’s Brandon Hagel fought U.S. forward Matthew Tkachuk off the opening faceoff, before Canadian forward Sam Bennett dropped the gloves with Brady Tkachuk on the ensuing draw.
Seconds later, Canadian defenceman Colton Parayko went fist-for-fist with J.T. Miller.
Saturday marked another instance of the American anthem getting disrupted ahead of Canadian sporting events amid rising political tensions between the neighbours and close allies in recent weeks.
A number of fans booed the U.S. anthem on Thursday night when the Americans played Finland, continuing a trend from NHL games in Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver after U.S. President Donald Trump announced potentially crippling tariffs and continues to muse about Canada becoming a 51st state.
There were also boos at recent home games of Canada’s lone NBA franchise, the Toronto Raptors.
A 30-day tariff pause on goods entering the U.S. from Canada was negotiated on Feb. 3, but Trump slapped 25 per cent duties on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. on Monday.
With Canadian fans booing the U.S. national anthem at sporting events amid political tensions, is it time to re-evaluate the time-honoured North American tradition?
Crowds in Montreal also booed the U.S. anthem at NHL games during the country’s 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Fans mostly refrained from booing last weekend when Lacroix asked spectators to respect the anthems during two Montreal Canadiens games. There was no anthem booing in Halifax for a recent Rivalry Series game between the Canadian and American women’s national teams.
Players and coaches from both Canada and the U.S. have mostly voiced that fans should hold back.
“I’d like to see all anthems respected,” Team Canada star Connor McDavid said. “That’s all I’ll really say, but I’d like to see the anthems respected.”
“Obviously don’t love to see that, but it is what it is,” U.S. captain Auston Matthews said.
Fans also booed the American team when it stepped onto the ice before puck drop on Saturday, but that kind of treatment is hardly unusual for Canada’s biggest rival.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs and making Canada the 51st state seem to have been a boost to Canadian patriotism. CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton breaks down the resurgence with The National’s At Issue panel.
Political tensions or not, the pro-Canada crowd was charged with energy as the two hockey powerhouses met for the first game featuring their top NHL stars in more than a decade.
“The reason we’re all here is because this is the greatest sport in the world,” Canada head coach Jon Cooper said on Saturday morning. “I trust that the great fans, the passionate fans that are gonna celebrate this sport will cheer both anthems, and we unite together and celebrate what might be the greatest game that’s going to happen in the past decade.”
The 4 Nations is considered an appetizer for the NHL’s return to the Olympics in 2026. NHL players participated in five Olympics between 1998 and 2014, before missing the 2018 and 2022 Games.
Canada opened the tournament with a nail-biting 4-3 overtime win on Wednesday against Sweden. The U.S., meanwhile, bulldozed its way to a 6-1 win over Finland. The tournament shifts to Boston for a pair of round-robin games on Monday before next Thursday’s final.
