They crossed the 49th parallel, from Manitoba to North Dakota – and drove over the day and night – over eight states and more than 3,000 kilometers, according to the Canadian kilometer counter on their Nissan Murano.
Two canceled flights meant that they were desperate. So they stepped up in a car and only stopped for gas. And despite a detour of two hours by Milwaukee, from a central of the night, they made Boston in 30 hours.
They were five below the thousands of Canadians who were standing outside the TD garden hours before the start of the 4 countries of the NHL’s 4 Nations Facef final between Canada and the United States.
“We are here for the Maple Leaf,” said Matt Mcleod. And they were there for their childhood friend Seth Jarvis, who lived his dream to play for Canada.
But with the most hyped international hockey game in more than a decade, everyone had their reasons to take care of. And after the 60 minutes and overtime it felt like there was so much more than a victory at stake.
With more than a decade of accumulated tension between the two rivals, heat on the ice was inevitable. But for many, the championship game was not just about bragging. An imminent trade war between the United States and Canada, after tariff threats by President Donald Trump and repeated claims that he would like the sovereign neighbor to be the 51st state of the country, created an unparalleled level of hostility between the two nations.
Canadian fans fascinated the American national anthem when the teams met in a Round-Robin competition in Montreal, which was followed by three fights in the first nine seconds of the game.
It was impossible to ignore the broader implications, especially when Bill Guerin, general manager of the American team, said his players used the political tensions as inspiration and invited Trump to attend the final. Before the championship, Trump encouraged the Americans while he made another shot in Canada and became the 51st state and refers to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as governor.
Apart from TD Garden, that tension was clearly hours before the opening face was finished.
“Welcome to the US, the 11th province of Canada,” Read a huge sign worn by Ian Mackinnon, while fans dressed in Canada and the US shuffled sweaters in a row stretched by Causeway Street. He is an American, through grandparents who emigrated to Nova Scotia for the first time. Mackinnon does not give much to sport, but he cycled there with his plate in the hope of making a point and perhaps offering a touch of limitedness.
“The way the series started with fist battles in the first 10 seconds, I felt that tonight I might make people smile,” said Mackinnon.
And most people did that while some threw light jabs.
“51st is!” A man shouted when he went in line.
“Vs! Vs!” sang another.
A fan tried to rip the board from Mackinnon, but he held.
In the meeting, American fans with Mark Goggin, who had dyed his face red and white, with temporary tattoos of a cartoon nut and beaver with every check. Goggin crossed the border from his house in Windsor to take a flight from Detroit with his son. As innocent and playful as most interactions were between the fans, Goggin felt the wider implications that the game wore looked somewhat lost on his American counterparts. They did not seem to appreciate how serious Canadians took the threats and taunted, he said. It might be fun and games for them, but in Canada the aggression has stimulated a stream of patriotism.
“Canadians are so pumped to win this game. Because we can’t beat Trump, right? “Goggin said.” It’s all we can beat them – Hockey. “
His eyes turned red when he described the emotion that many Canadians wore in the final.
“It’s so big for Canadians,” said Goggin. “It’s more than a game.”
The root interests of Mark Goggin were easily distinguished. (Dan Robson / The Athletic)
Harjinder Sidhu flew out of Winnipeg to attend the competition with his brother and his 5-year-old cousin, who traveled from Edmonton. The 30-year-old said the external context matters.
“Canada will never be the 51st state. … it’s very disrespectful, “he said. “Our soldiers died next to their soldiers in wars, what we do happily because they are our brothers. But that brother now acts too aggressively. And today we show them who the king of hockey is. ‘
Hockey has been the game of Canada for more than a century. But it has long been expected that the Americans would catch up on Canada and possibly surpass. Recent trends underlines that reality. The majority of Canadian Nhlers plays for American teams. And as has been noted many times, no Canadian team has won a Stanley Cup since 1993.
That tension also filled the TD garden. It was uncomfortable when Wayne Gretzky, the biggest hockey icon, stepped on the ice that Canada represented during a pregame ceremony that wore a suit, to respectful stick and cheers. Mike Eruzione, captain of the Miracle on Ice team of 1980, followed a loose-banded roar in a US sweat the American players and waves his hands to pump the crowd while they sang “USA”
It was not lost to many Canadians who lived Gretzky, star of the famous Canada Cup team from 1987 from 1987, to President Trump’s election victory in Mar-A-Lago and his recent inauguration ceremony.
A little angry greeted the Canadian national anthem, but a chorus came alongside singer Chantal Kreviazuk, who made her own remark at the moment by turning the texts into a verse of “in all of all or us command” to “that only our command “. Kreviazuk later placed on Instagram that she believed that Canadians needed to get up and use their voices in the face of a “potentially consistent moment.”
“We have to express our indignation in the face of any abuse of power,” she wrote.
A hockey game happened, and an exciting, with a crowd heavy on the American side.
But after the most dramatic show of international men’s hockey in more than a decade – sealed by Connor McDavid’s overtime winning goal – they were Canadians on the ice and embraced in the stands. American fans flowed to the hall when “O Canada” played again for fireworks around a gigantic Canadian flag to fireworks. The red-white sweaters filled the bottom bowl, surrounded by empty seats.
Drew Doughty sang as hard as he could. It was so long ago that he felt this moment for the last time, and he didn’t know if he would ever feel it again.
And later, in the dressing room, the Canadian players “We Are The Champions” from Queen, Molson Canadian and Sloting has to be on the floor. Their regime as the world’s largest, secured for at least another year.
Above, in the hall, a singing of “can-na-da, CA-Na-da” echoed while fans marched to the outputs and to Causeway Street.
A woman in a gray sweater with an American flag shouted after them: “You will soon be the 51st state.”
But nobody took the trouble to listen.
While the champagne on the floor of the dressing room dried and other Canadian players in the corridor enjoyed the afterparty of the team in a nearby bar, Mark Stone acknowledged that the political tension in the team weighed in the team.
“I certainly read and saw everything, Saturday to tonight,” said Stone. “It is difficult to keep that stuff off, as the world is with social media. This game meant a lot to us, a lot for our country, and we are proud to do that sweater and win a victory for our country. “
In the hall, Brad Marchand, Sidney Crosby and Nathan Mackinnon posed for a photo. Mackinnon stopped a Canadian flag. Crosby, the captain, grabbed the 4 Nations Cup.
Seth Jarvis and the friends who had driven out of Winnipeg also stepped up to pose for some photos. They wore Crosby, McDavid, Mackinnon and Mitch Marner’s sweaters – only a few among the thousands who still filled the streets of Boston, screamed and laughed and cheer, for a victory that felt so much bigger than a game.
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / Athletics. Photos: Dan Robson / Athletics; Brian Babineau / 4NFO / World Cup Hockey; Bruce Bennett, Ben Jackson / 4NFO / World Cup Hockey via Getty Images)