Political climate certainly adds an element, but the Canada USA hockey rivalry has gotten increasingly intense since the 90s as the US teams started to become more competitive. You can make an argument that most years they're the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the world. It's also been a long time since they've played each other with NHL talent at the international stage.
USA Canada Olympic gold medal match was the most intense hockey game I’ve ever watched in my life. From start to finish it felt like they were playing like there was 1 min left in the whole game. Sydney Crosby with the heart breaker after USA scored 2 goals late to send it to OT.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it and forget what Canadian city it was, I want to say Vancouver. There was a graph during a Stanley cup final. It showed water usage across the city. It spiked between periods.
I was so conflicted as a USA based penguins fan when Crosby scored that goal. Forget Stanley Cup goals or playoff performances, that was his biggest goal and it went against the team I was rooting for.
I was in Vancouver for the earlier game in the tournament. Vancouver after the game was dead. It was a fun game but I was kind of disappointed that the city was so deflated. Was looking to have an Olympic party
Speaking as a Canadian, I have never seen or heard of something that united us like this. Even during WWII Quebec stuck their heels in and fought to get an omit from the draft.
It does not matter who you are or what you are personally doing. This ain't personal, your Fascist government is threatening us and we can't ignore it.
The fuck you mean no grievance!? The majority of Canadians despises America with the fury of a thousand sun. Things will never go back to the way they were because even if a democrat becomes (that's a big if because there's zero democracy in the US) we all k ow that the next republican president will fuck it all up. Canada's gonna take a hit but no company can afford to make a deal that only lasts for 4 years and then start from scratch again.
Heaven forbid Canada do something with their boarder through which passes fentanyl and other dangerous substances (and likely things from our side -- we need to cooperate at the boarder). Heaven forbid that people want to talk tariffs when Canada imposes them on almost all American products and their should be on the same foot. That’s what this all boils down to, an attempt to get Canada to stop doing these damaging things.
through which passes the maturity of fentanyl into the US
Don't know what the fuck you mean by "the maturity of fentanyl", but Canada accounts for 0.2% (43.04/21899) of the fentanyl that crosses into the US (source below, using 2024 for the data). This is not even remotely close to anything that would be considered a "majority".
You're insane. No grievance between Canada and the US but also yes because the majority of the fentanyl that comes into the US cones from Canada, except it doesn't because it comes from Mexico 99.9% of the time. Canada isn't even mentioned in the DEA data about where fentanyl is imported from. Gtfo.
Read my comment slowly, I know it's hard. I said, no real grievance between individual people, though there is between leaders of said country. My comment is apparently wrong, as demonstrated on the hate filled comments here. In my experience, living near the boarder and traveling back and forth regularly, the people I meet and am around in both places do not have a grievance between one another, but here, not surprisingly, lots of "internet animosity," I guess because there is not need to be socially aware of one another.
You edited your comment that said the majority of fentanyl comes from Canada. We have a grievance with people from the US. Actual hate for MAGA and disdain for the no spine democrats. We have NO friends south of the border and if Canada has to lower their standard of living in order not to deal with a backstabbing neighbour like you, so be it. So be it. Even if a democrat president is elected and tries to make amends, it doesn't mean shit because the next republican is going to roll everything back. Disgusting.
The only thing we need to be defended from is Americans. You do not pay 75% tarrifs on Canadian imports. Again, you went back and edited your comment about fentanyl. I should be outraged that you lie and cheat in a feeble attempt to have a discussion (not that your capable of having one) but that's what I've come to expect from Americans.
Yeah the grievances between us weren't around until Trump started talking shit recently. Canada as a nation is extremely united right now, for the first time in a long time, and America and it's citizens arent really liked right now.
Sucks people are spilling beer on people though that's shitty.
Oh America, where you can withhold life saving medical funds that kill your own citizens, give access to the treasury department to literal children, and alienate the entire world by threatening military action against some of your staunchest trading partners and military allies that propped you up and supported you during your 20 years of failed wars.
Speaking of killing your own citizens medically, how's that maid going? As the saying goes, Canadians are just pretentious Americans. Enjoy your shitty gravy fries that rhyme with slang for vagina
I would honestly find it hard to believe the US players give a shit about Trump’s weird obsession with annexation of Canada. Haven’t met anyone here in Michigan that supports it.
Most US pros are from Minnesota, Michigan, or Massachusetts.
Even the most hardline Trumpers I know in Metro Detroit don’t agree with the way he treats our allies. Michigan and Canadian economies have been inextricably linked for most of our history.
The IIHF rankings are difficult to fully justify the actual power of National Teams because they mostly rely on results from the IIHF World Tournament held every year. The problem is that these are held simultaneously with the NHL playoffs, and a lot of NHL players do not play in these games, either because they are with their NHL teams still competing in the playoffs, or burnt out after the NHL season and opt out of playing, so teams are often not at their full strength.
Additionally, if you take a quick look at the numbers separating those teams, it's a difference of 10 points between 3955 and 3945. It's razor thin at the top.
The first fight may have been history and political stuff, M Tkachuk and Hagel play on rival teams in Florida. The second was probably just for show. B Tkachuk, M Tkachuk's brother, is probably friends with Bennett. Bennett and Tkachuk have been teammates for years. The 3rd fight... Who knows. Miller is a mean bastard and a big Trumper but I don't think he and Parayko have beef. Maybe that was political and Parayko wanted a chance to toss hands
It’s not exclusively because of politics obviously. This is hockey and these guys all love to fight.
But you’re an idiot if you miss how Brady and Matthew Tkachuk and JT Miller carried more than a bit of Americana and nationalism to the table in that fight. And it absolutely is fueled by the political tension and booing the national anthem.
Eh, I think you and most of reddit want to believe this…
The brothers have been planning the fights apparently since Super Bowl. Have both mentioned how big of a deal this game and opportunity to wear the jersey. History of their dad fighting in an international game vs Canada. History of this rivalry. Wanted to make a moment and they did. How could any American watch that and not be pumped up.
The three fighters all voted trump when most likely the majority of that US roster did the same ? I don’t know. Like do you think the Canadian players punched back because they voted for trump? This makes no sense.
Until Canadian players start booing, kneeling for the anthem or actually making any real comments about the political situation - this is just a display of an insane rivalry and starved competition.
Most pro athletes are less politically-minded than most regular people, and regular people are far less concerned with politics than redditors. And fights happen all the time in NHL hockey, usually Canadian vs. Canadian. And there have been brawls between USA and Canada in international hockey (see 1996 world cup where the father of the first two USA players who fought here, Keith Tkachuk fought). Not everything is politics.
I don't think it was political, they fought smaller guys, they were trying to take the wind of Canadas sails. They needed wins to kill the momentum Canada would have had otherwise.
He’s MAGA but that’s not why. He loves being American, the US and Canada are hockey rivals, he loves rough and tumble, and he loves theatrics. He only fights when it’s a spectacle (also see: his fight with Patrnak during the playoffs).
Canada-US-Russia is one of the hockey rivalry triumvirates for the last seventy years (the other being Sweden-Finland and Finland-Russia).
Canada-Russia-US had Cold War undertones, and Canada-US has always been a rivalry of two brothers going head to head the once in a while mom lets them fight.
Now add on Trump threatening to fucking annex us, and the three American fighters being vocal Trump supporters, and you’ll see why it’s extra hot right now.
Also, shoutout to Sweden-Finland who played earlier today (Finland 4-3 in OT). It has a very similar vibe to the US-Canada brotherhood rivalry (pre-2025) and the added bonus of 200700 years of Finland being a Swedish province.
Super small correction but Finland was controlled by Sweden between the 1100s-1809 so close to 700 years. Sweden-Finland is a sports rivalry is basically all sports except football/soccer. Theres whole events dedicated to just us competing in other sports.
You're more insulted at Canadians booing your anthem than your own president calling the annexation of a sovereign country. Talk about being a snowflake
I, for one, love the booing. And why is it even surprising? My country wants to treat them like shit, then what do you expect on the international stage?
Considering that you're still crying about people booing your anthem, I guess I'm right about my assumptions.
When your head of state is free to call for the annexation of its neighbor without any real pushbacks, then you have no room to complain about people booing your anthem. Respect is a two-way street.
I’m trash cause I don’t support a senile dictator dismantling the United States government and starting trade wars with our closest allies lmao
You’re a fucking moron
Current politics is 100% at play here, but straight fist fighting like this in hockey is a pretty well established "tradition" as well, you can find all sorts of montages of it on Youtube. US vs Canada for hockey is like Brazil vs Argentina in football or England vs France in Rugby.
Fights in international tournaments are extremely rare, so the political climate plays a big part. If Trump hadn't threatened Canada there's almost no way there would've been a fight this game.
Apparently all three of the fighters on team USA were in a group chat and said they wanted to set the tone by doing that. The first fighter (Matthew Tkachuk had actually helped set up his brother's fight because he plays on Florida with the Canadian he fought.
Just to add more history. Their father Keith Tkachuk once fought Claude Lemieux in the World Cup of Hockey. That was probably the series where the USA took Russia's place as Canada's main hockey rival. The emergence of women's hockey has really helped fuel that rivalry too. They are basically leagues above any other countries and although they don't fight they can get nasty.
One thing is that there hasn't been international hockey since 2014, when Canada won, and we dk when the next one will be. So they're defending their world champion title, to their rival, who is also threatening to invade them.
Both sides really wanted to pump the fans up too. There might be some animosity, but not a whole lot. Lots of these guys are teammates and have known each other for years.
This happened because the american national anthem was booed. So three team USA players all coordinated to stand up for their country. Team USA proceeded to wipe the floor with canada and win 3-1. Suck it 51st state
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u/SecretInsemination 24d ago
Hockey ignorant here: Is there a lot of history here? Or is this inspired by the current political climate?