Canada and the US are set to battle in women’s hockey during a tense time that has seen fans boo the singing of the American anthem at sporting events.
The 2 nations will face off on Thursday in Halifax as a part of the Rivalry Series — a five-game series placed on by Hockey Canada and USA Hockey that wraps up Saturday in Prince Edward Island.
The Halifax match — the primary in Canada because the series began in November — can be played at a time when political tensions between Washington and Ottawa reach latest highs.
Those tensions, began by U.S. President Donald Trump, have spilled into skilled sports with fans vocalizing their disapproval of the Trump administration’s actions on Canada.
“It’s definitely an interesting time, and I haven’t taken an excessive amount of time to form an opinion either way, but I do know there’s been games where fans have booed in the course of the other nation’s national anthem,” Canada forward Blayre Turnbull said Wednesday.
“Truthfully, I don’t know if that will occur in Halifax. The magnitude of this game is larger than politics without delay. I feel the fans and all of the young kids within the stands are going to be so over the moon, excited and overjoyed to have the chance to look at us play that I don’t foresee any booing happening.”
Trump’s threats of 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports is what began the riff. Trump said he would impose those tariffs over border security issues, after which over a trade deficit, after which over a supposed restriction of U.S. banks with the ability to do business in Canada, which is fake.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the globe, join for breaking news alerts delivered on to you after they occur.
Trump also said he would impose those tariffs on his first day as president through an executive order, only to as an alternative order a review of the trading relationship before saying he would impose them anyhow on Feb. 1. On that day, Trump signed an executive order for the tariffs to be imposed on Feb. 3.
Before that day got here, Canadian political leaders announced a series of retaliatory measures, and on the eleventh hour, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced those tariffs could be placed on hold for a month while the 2 countries iron out a lot of issues.
When Trump signed the manager order for tariffs on Feb. 3, fans on the Feb. 1 Ottawa Senators game booed the singing of the U.S. national anthem. Fans elsewhere in Canada followed suit over the weekend, and even after the deal was announced, the booing continues.
Canada head coach Troy Ryan said it was “too bad” the political drama has been spilling over into sports.
“It’s definitely not a part of the noise inside our group. I’m sure individual people could have individual opinions, but we generally don’t bring those into our group. In the event that they need to discuss it, we’ll discuss it, nevertheless it’s not something we expect we’ve to get ahead of,” he said.
“It’s too bad. Hockey is just not a spot of loads of political beliefs. We understand people’s concerns, but we’re just here to placed on a superb show and play against our biggest rival.”
Assistant coach Caroline Ouellette added Canadians “must be the larger person” during this time.
“Canadians at all times act with class. I’m happy with my country. I’m happy with how kind and generous we’re. We care about caring for children, caring for people in need, we’ve at all times been that way,” she said.
“We have now to be the larger person, we’ve to regulate what we will control, we’ve to seek out ways to financially help one another and proceed to be a powerful country. I would like us to rise and be higher.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
