Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau basked in his national ice hockey team's win over Team USA on Thursday night by poking President Donald Trump on social media.
"You can't take our country — and you can't take our game," Trudeau wrote on X after Canada's 3-2 overtime victory in the championship of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The 4 Nations Face-Off, which took the place during the traditional NHL All-Star break, became something more than a sporting event due to the political tension between the nations.
Trudeau's liberal government has been roiled up by Trump's imposition of tariffs and his repeated references to making Canada the "51st state," and Canadians have been jeering the U.S. national anthem for the past several weeks during NHL games.
Trump continued his trolling of Trudeau leading up to the championship game, referring to him as "governor" in a Truth Social post on Thursday: "I'll be calling our GREAT American Hockey Team this morning to spur them on towards victory tonight against Canada, which with FAR LOWER TAXES AND MUCH STRONGER SECURITY, will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished, and very important Fifty First State, I will be speaking before the Governors tonight in D.C., and will sadly, therefore, be unable to attend. But we will all be watching, and if Governor Trudeau would like to join us, he would be most welcome. Good luck to everybody, and have a GREAT game tonight. So exciting!"
Thursday night's win keeps the bragging rights between the two hockey powers squarely in the Canadian corner. Before the U.S. victory on Saturday night, the Americans had not beaten Canada with NHL players in international play since the group stage of the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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