Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a veiled swipe at President Trump on Thursday, after Canada defeated the U.S. in the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey game.
“You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game,” the outgoing prime minister wrote on social platform X, indirectly referencing Trump’s proposal to make Canada the 51st state.
Canada’s 3-2 victory came after center Connor McDavid scored during overtime to clinch the win. Hockey lovers are looking forward to another match up at the 2026 Olympics, where the Great White North beat the United States in 2002 and 2010.
Nathan MacKinnon, who was designated Canada’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) on Thursday, weighed in on the turmoil between the North American neighbors.
”A lot of stuff going on with Canada and the USA right now, and us playing against each other was kind of a perfect storm for our sport,” MacKinnon said.
The U.S. team invited President Trump to attend the rivalry game hosted in Boston, but he had to decline due to pre-scheduled events. Still, the president spoke with the players via phone ahead of the game to wish them luck.
Tension could be felt by audience members during the opening performance of Canada’s national anthem, “O-Canada,” during which Americans booed. Canadians did the same during “The Star-Spangled Banner” rendition last week.
But this time performer Chantal Kreviazuk changed the lyric from “in all of us command” to “that only us command” and confirmed Trump’s 51st state comments were the reason behind the change according to The Associated Press.
Trump has consistently doubled down on his calls for Canada to merge with the U.S. since Trudeau announced his looming resignation last month. The president has seemingly used his threat of tariffs on the country as a wager, but Canadians have held their ground.
