President Donald Trump speaks with Team USA before 4 Nations final against Canada
U.S. President also invited Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to join a meeting of American governors with hopes Canada will be the 51st state
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Team USA received a call from the Commander in Chief on Thursday morning.
President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account on Thursday morning that he plans to give members of the United States hockey team a call before it faces off against Team Canada in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off being held Thursday at 8 p.m. at the TD Garden in Boston.
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President Donald Trump speaks with Team USA before 4 Nations final against Canada Back to video
USA Hockey posted a picture on its social media account X on Thursday morning of the group listening to a call from Trump before holding an optional morning skate. He told the players to “enjoy the journey.”
Trump also noted that someday he is hopeful that the two foes will be teammates because he hasn’t let up on a continued campaign to try to get Canada to join the United States.
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“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,” Trump wrote.
He added that he will be meeting with governors of the United States in Washington, which is why he won’t be attending the game, but invited Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — who Trump mockingly called “Governor Trudeau” to join the discussions.
“I will be speaking before the Governors tonight in D.C., and will sadly, therefore, (will) be unable to attend. But we will all be watching, and if Governor Trudeau would like to join us, he would be most welcome,” Trump added. “Good luck to everybody, and have a GREAT game tonight. So exciting!”
Speaking on Fox News earlier this week, American general manager Bill Guerin invited Trump to attend the game if he could.
“It was a distinct honour,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “Politics aside, when the President of the United States takes the time to speak to our players, it’s an incredible honour. It’s an indication, once again, of the impact this tournament has had on people in the United States.
“People are paying attention. That’s a credit to all the players involved and their commitment to excellence and how competitive these games have been. We have a locker room full of proud Americans and when the President of the United States takes the time out of our busy schedule to say a few words to our guys I know it meant a lot to every one of us.”
The American players appreciated the call from Trump. The team listened to the call on Guerin’s cellphone with the speaker function turned on.
“It was so awesome to get his support,” said Rangers forward J.T. Miller following the morning skate. “It’s a pretty big deal for him to take time out of his schedule to talk to us for five minutes
“It’s just another one of those things where we’re kind of pinching ourselves this tournament.”
“It was pretty wild,” added forward Brock Nelson. “It’s an honour for everybody here to represent the country and get a call from the President. It was pretty special to everybody in this locker room that he took time out of his day.
“It also goes to show that it’s not just a big game for hockey, it goes beyond the game. It was something I will remember.”
Trump has galvanized Canadians with this kind of talk and the booing of the American national anthem has been happening since fans at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa started the trend on Feb. 1.
Despite public address announcer Michel Lacroix’s best efforts to ask the faithful to show respect for both anthems, The Star-Spangled Banner and O Canada were performed before the United States took on host Canada in a sold-out arena on Saturday night in Montreal.
All this came on Flag Day in Canada as the Maple Leaf celebrated its 60th anniversary. The atmosphere in the arena was wild because fans were handed Canadian flags to wave when they came in the door and that just further fueled the pride in this country.
Trudeau was in the house to witness first-hand as hockey fans from his country booed the U.S. anthem for the second straight game. There were also loud jeers before the U.S. team played its opener against Finland on Thursday.
“I don’t caught up in politics,” said Canadian winger Brad Marchand, who plays for the hometown Bruins. “I don’t think there is a place in the game for it. This is a place for people to escape that stuff. You get to come and watch a game and get away from all the stresses everybody has.
“Everybody has their own thing going on. Games like this are an opportunity to forget all that.”
bgarrioch@postmedia.com
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