President Donald Trump announced on Thursday he would call the U.S. men’s hockey team ahead of their 4 Nations Face-Off final against Canada in a rematch of their heated game over the weekend.
Bill Guerin, the general manager for the U.S. 4 Nations team, invited Trump to come to Boston for the final against Canada in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom.”
On Truth Social, the busy president wrote he would give the team a ring and teased Canada again.
“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,” he wrote.
Trump added he would not be able to attend the game.
“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!”
USA-CANADA RIVALRY TAKES CENTER STAGE IN 4 NATIONS FACE-OFF FINAL: WHAT TO KNOW
Saturday’s game started with Canadian fans in Montreal booing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Then, three American and three Canadian players threw down their gloves and began to fight. There were three fights in the first nine seconds. The U.S. got the last laugh as they topped Canada, 3-1.
It is unclear if more fighting will occur when the puck drops at 8 p.m. ET.
Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel, who have had an intense rivalry in NHL games, threw subtle jabs at each other since then as they spoke to reporters. Tkachuk had previously said that he, his brother and their teammate J.T. Miller talked about sparking the fight in group chat.
Hagel poked texters, saying he fought “for the flag” and “not the cameras.” added as a subtle shot that his Canadian teammates “don’t have any group chats.”
“Maybe their team doesn’t like each other, then, if they don’t have group chats,” Tkachuk said, via Sportsnet.
Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
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