The Star-Spangled Banner was “booed” before Team USA’s game against Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off at the Bell Centre in Montreal, a match the U.S. won 6-1. It was the “latest demonstration during the song” following similar reactions at NHL games in Canadian cities. Before the anthems, the public address announcer “asked the crowd in English and French to show respect for the anthems,” but just as the U.S. national anthem began, a “large percentage of the crowd, especially in the upper sections began booing loudly.” The “heavily” Canadian crowd was “cheering for Finland throughout, but that would have likely been the case even in the friendliest of political times” (MASSLIVE, 2/13). The Americans were “also loudly jeered when they hit the ice ahead of puck drop and again during player introductions.” American supporters in attendance “started a ‘U-S-A! U-S-A!’ chant just before puck drop only to be drowned out” (CANADIAN PRESS, 2/14).
Team USA put “its foot down” in the victory to open the 4 Nations Face-Off, boosted by “a dominant third period” from LW Brady Tkachuk and LW Matthew Tkachuk, joined together on a line by coach Mike Sullivan. The game “hung in the balance until early in the third” when Finland GK Juuse Saros “let in a pair of soft goals that allowed Team USA to turn it into a rout.” With Team Canada and a “hostile crowd awaiting Saturday, the learning curve Team USA underwent over 60 minutes Thursday must stay intact.” There can be “no room for backsliding against a Canadian team that played high-flying hockey” in its opener (N.Y. POST, 2/13).
