When the National Hockey League’s 4 Nations Face-Off was initially announced, it was met with a generous helping of snide cynicism (as so many things are these days).
What even is this? Will the players be invested in this thrown-together All-Star Game replacement? Will the fans get behind it, or is it just another transparent cash grab wrapped in the flag of manufactured patriotism?
At the very least, this brand-new “best-on-best” tournament has little chance of matching the prestige or intensity of the competition seen at, say, the Olympics.
As far as Canadian pride goes, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Canuck who doesn’t remember where they were when Sidney Crosby scored his famous “golden goal” on home soil to deliver Olympic gold to Canada in 2010.
After all, it’s the kind of natural National Patriotism most governments can only dream of. Go back and look at photos of Whistler’s Village Square in the immediate aftermath of that win—full-throated love and pride for Canada, and none of it felt the least bit fake or manufactured (one of those photos, featuring our own Jon Parris, Captain Canada himself, is nothing short of iconic here at Pique).
How can this new hockey throwdown, the 4 Nations Face-Off, possibly compare to that?
As it turns out, cynical or for-profit, manufactured or not, hockey players (and in turn, the fans) don’t mess around when it comes to wearing their country’s colours.
You only have to look to the Feb. 15 showdown between Canada and the U.S., which featured three fights in the first nine seconds, for proof.
Fights are a comparative rarity in international competition, but the stage was set after the crowd at Montreal’s Bell Centre enthusiastically booed the American anthem prior to puck drop.
Less than a minute in, any lingering cynicism about player buy-in was erased.
But then, the timing couldn’t be more fortuitous for those planning the tournament.
It helps when things are as tense as they currently are, with the U.S. president making continued threats about annexing our great, sovereign country, belittling us and our leaders at every turn, and dragging us into a wholly unnecessary trade war.
It is all conspiring to inspire a groundswell of national pride, with Canadians cancelling their U.S. travel plans and pledging to “buy Canadian” as much as possible.
It’s inspiring to watch Canadians unite somewhat after some shaky years of intense partisan division (not to imply that has magically gone away)—but it’s curious to consider where Whistler lands in this whole conflict.
Our town’s largest employer, Vail Resorts, is notoriously American-owned, placing Whistler Blackcomb squarely on several peoples’ radar for boycotts.
Not only that, Americans make up a huge chunk of Whistler’s annual visitation—about 30 per cent in winter, and 25 per cent in summer—so our little resort is uniquely intertwined with our brothers and sisters to the south.
We love our American friends, and we don’t lay the blame for this completely avoidable fiasco (entirely) at their feet.
As Premier David Eby put it in his off-the-cuff remarks at the Invictus Games opening ceremony in Vancouver on Feb. 8, our neighbourly bond goes deeper than our politics.
“I know our countries are having a moment right now, right? But there is not a person here, there is not a Canadian that does not know that our soldiers have fought and died and cried and celebrated beside Americans for generations,” he said.
“And I’ll tell you as a politician, that it doesn’t matter what the politicians say. Because if you need us, you just say the word, U.S.A. And you know what, if we ever need you, and it came down to it, I know you’d be there in a second.”
Point a critical eye at any social media platform of late and you’ll see the “conflict” is clearly being exacerbated by faceless trolls and malicious bots—even paid ads promoting Canada’s annexation. By who and to what end remains to be seen, but it’s nothing good.
But real Canadians will never give in so easily, and we know real Americans have our backs. Thousands marched and gathered in cities across the U.S. on Presidents’ Day, Feb. 17, in protest of Trump’s destructive policies and fascist rhetoric. Look closely and you might even see some signs of support for our polite little country up north.
And yes, we’re polite, to an extent. But Canadians of all stripes are already showing we won’t back down from the bullies.
And how so fitting that it all comes to a head on the ice, the age-old rivalry revisited one more time for the 4 Nations finals on Feb. 20. Canada versus the U.S. for the title of hockey supremacy. For hockey fans, it doesn’t get better than this. (As a total aside, it is oddly nerve-racking to write about an upcoming sporting event that will be decided before this week’s Pique hits the stands. Do I dare make a Tuesday prediction for Thursday’s big game? 3-2 Canada, in OT.)
Win or lose, I love this damn country—always have, always will. And Trump and his army of bots, trolls and ass-sucking sycophants can’t have it.
Sorry.
