With a politically-charged 4 Nations Faceoff final approaching between Canada and the United States, the man calling the game for ESPN is hoping that fans in Boston act with civility.
The games in recent days have garnered attention over the booing of national anthems as the rivalry between the two nations has ratcheted up thanks to inflammatory rhetoric from President Donald Trump.
Ahead of the game on Thursday, ESPN’s Sean McDonough expressed his wish that American fans decide to not boo the Canadian national anthem as their neighbors to the north have done a few times in recent weeks.
‘I really hope our people don’t boo the anthem,’ McDonough said on Boston sports radio station WEEI on Tuesday.
McDonough, a Boston native and a part-time radio broadcaster for baseball’s Boston Red Sox added, ‘Let’s be better than that. I think we all have a lot of respect for what a great country Canada is. And the political things that have led the Canadians recently.
‘I understand it from their perspective, especially having been up there for several days. So, let’s be better than that and be respectful of their anthem and cheer like hell for our own.’
ESPN’s Sean McDonough hopes that Boston sports fans will choose to not boo the Canadian national anthem when the team plays the United States in the city for the 4 Nations Faceoff
This came after fans in Montreal heartily booed the US national anthem prior to two games in the tournament in earlier stages: last Thursday vs. Finland and again on Saturday vs. Canada
Provocative rhetoric from President Trump has strained the relationship between the countries
As if there was anything else needed to push the stress of one of the biggest international rivalries in the sport, political tensions between the United States and Canada have been at their highest since the 1800s.
Blame for that can almost entirely be placed on the shoulders of President Donald Trump, who has caused animosity between the two nations seemingly without provocation.
Not only has Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Canada and is marching toward an unnecessary trade war with his neighbor, he has repeatedly bullied the nation by suggesting he could annex the country and turn it into the 51st state in the union.
Canadians, needless to say, have not taken this gesture kindly and have begun booing the American national anthem at sporting events.
That included games in this tournament. During the USA’s opening ‘4 Nations’ game against Finland, the Bell Centre crowd heartily booed the American national anthem.
The ‘Star Spangled Banner’ was booed even louder for the USA-Canada game on Saturday, with the crowd drowning out the singer before performing a hearty version of ‘O, Canada’.
And then the fighting began. Right off the opening faceoff, Canada’s Brandon Hagel and Team USA‘s Matthew Tkachuk dropped the gloves – resulting in what could be considered a draw.
That was followed by a bout between Matthew’s younger brother, Brady Tkachuk, and Canada’s Sam Bennett just two seconds later. Brady emphatically won that round.
Hagel (R) of Canada dropped the gloves right away in a bout against Matthew Tkachuk (L)
Two seconds after the initial fight, Canada’s Sam Bennett fought American Brady Tkachuk
Six seconds after that, JT Miller (L) of the US lost his bout against Canada’s Colton Parayko (R)
Round 3 was between Canada defenseman Colton Parayko and USA forward JT Miller. Parayko easily won that bout, as he clearly out-sized the American.
Unfortunately for Hagel and Team Canada, neither the anthem booing or the fighting were enough to pull out a victory as the United States won 3-1.
While Canada star Connor McDavid drew first blood, the Americans struck back with three unanswered goals.
Jake Guentzel opened up the scoring for Team USA and Dylan Larkin broke the tie. Guentzel doubled his luck by securing an empty net goal to seal the win. Beating the Canadians in regulation meant the United States secured a spot in Thursday’s final.
Meanwhile, Canada needed a win of their own to get in. On Monday afternoon, they accomplished that by beating Finland 5-3.
The Americans lost their game against Sweden on Monday night after choosing to rest many of their starters.
Team USA is already down a key defensive player as Charlie McAvoy will miss Thursday’s final after sustaining an injury that led to an infectionwhich required hospitalization. His parent team, the Boston Bruins, ruled him out for Thursday night.
Prior to Saturday, Canada and the United States hadn’t played a true ‘best-on-best’ match since the group stage at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey – which Canada won 4-2.
The Canadian-American hockey rivalry has grown in ferocity in recent years
Before Saturday, the two countries hadn’t played a ‘best-on-best’ game since 2016
At the World Junior level, the rivalry has been hot – with the US beating Canada for gold in 2021
NHL players haven’t appeared at an Olympic games since 2014 in Sochi.
After Sochi, the NHL decided to stop sending players to the Olympics for the 2018 Olympics in Peyongchang. In 2022, the NHL initially planned to send players to the winter games in Beijing, but the Covid-19 crisis and strict quarantine policy resulted in no players being sent.
This is set to change for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy, with the NHL agreeing to let its athletes compete.
The US and Canada met in the semifinals of the Sochi games, with Canada winning and going on to claim the gold medal. Team USA lost to Finland in the bronze medal match.
Team USA and Team Canada have met twice in the gold medal game at the Olympics – incidentally, both at times where one of the nations was hosting the games.
Canada first won in 2002 in Salt Lake City before beating the US again at home in Vancouver in 2010.
In recent years, the rivalry has been hottest at the World Junior Championships as the senior World Championships typically take place during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Since 2020, Canada and the US have won every edition of the World Juniors – with both nations winning three times. That included the 2021 World Juniors, where the US beat Canada to win gold.