In America, hockey is seen as an afterthought, with the NHL ranking 5th in viewership compared to the other big leagues in the US. Even less people in the US bother to watch the 4 nations face off, where Finland, Sweden, Canada and the United States face off in a mini tournament to find out which country has the best hockey team.  

To understand why so many people in the US started caring for this tournament all of a sudden, you have to understand the context of the current relations between the two allies. In early January before his confirmation, President Donald Trump began referring to Canada as the 51st state of the United States and called Justin Trudeau, the current prime minister of Canada “Governor Trudeau” an obvious jab at the prime minister. After his inauguration, the president would attempt to enter conversations with the Canada about a potential annexing to make a bigger America. Tack on the threat of mass tariffs to a lot of Canadian exports and you can start to see why Canadians might not feel so fondly about the US currently. 

So, when the time had arrived for the two nations to play in a hockey game, many Canadians saw an opportunity to jab back at the US. At the beginning of every sporting event involving multiple countries, they play the national anthems for both nations. When the time came to play the American national anthem, boos stormed down from the Canadian side of the stadium and could be heard very clearly during the national broadcast of the game. This shocked many, as Canadians are typically seen as patient and polite people who very seldom show discontent. Despite Canada’s hostile feelings towards the USA, that would not serve much help in their first matchup, as the US would defeat Canada 3-1.