No matter how much things change, no matter how much better the Americans get – and wow, do the Americans ever ever ever get better every year, there are two hard and fast rules that dominate Canadian-American championship hockey, whether at the Worlds or the Olympics: One, the game will go down to the last minute either tied or within one goal, and two, Canada will win, every. single. time. You would think that the Americans would get one, after all – many of these games, like last night, go into overtime. And the Americans came painfully close to scoring in overtime, but alas, see rule number two – the Canadians always win. But last night in Boston, the Canadians didn’t just win in overtime 3-2 to chase Team USA away one more time. No, in a sense Canada won even before the puck dropped, with an expertly placed alteration to the national anthem as sung by singer Chantal Kreviazuk. Far better than any boos that came out in previous games (And were almost wholly absent last night, fans get over it and understand the bigger picture), this expertly inserted punch was all the Canadians needed to get off on the right skate.
There is absolutely no shame in losing to a team that is going to line up Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Thomas MacKinnon, and Cale Makar on defense across from you – indeed, one wonders how the Americans got it to overtime against such a team, and yet see rule number one, these two always get close (The U.S. has the best goaltender in the world in Connor Hellebuyck, and that constitutes a major factor). But wow, the Americans took one in the chin as the teams lined up in the dark for the national anthem. Grok AI summed the situation up for us with no editorializing:
The Canadian singer who changed the lyrics to “O Canada” at the Canada vs. U.S. hockey game was Chantal Kreviazuk. Kreviazuk, a Grammy-nominated artist from Winnipeg, altered the line “True patriot love, in all of us command” to “True patriot love, that only us command” as a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated remarks about Canada potentially becoming the 51st U.S. state.
Chantal Kreviazuk owning Trump by changing the line “True patriot love in all of us command” to “True patriot love, that only us command” is better than any hidden message Kendrick Lamar had at the Super Bowl. pic.twitter.com/m0PvA8MIX5
— Brent Bellamy (@brent_bellamy) February 21, 2025
Well done. Indeed, sly and subtle. If one decides to alter lyrics in such a position, there would always be the temptation to do too much, go too far, take too big a bite. But it sure looks and feels like Kreviazuk nailed the sweet spot. Her change might escape notice in some contexts – but people were listening intensely to the national anthems last night given the problems recently, nothing was going to get by anyone, and so the slight alteration was picked up instantly and no one was confused as to what she was referencing. Moving on in the coverage, again from Grok:
Her publicist, Adam Gonshor, confirmed to the Associated Press that the change was intentional and directly tied to Trump’s comments, which have included suggestions of U.S. territorial expansion and threats of tariffs on Canada. Kreviazuk later explained to the AP that she made the change “because I believe in democracy, and a sovereign nation should not have to be defending itself against tyranny and fascism.” She emphasized her belief in using her platform to express her truth, stating, “I don’t think it would be authentic to me to be given a world stage and not express myself and be true to myself.”
She definitely took a risk. There is a view that says, “She was invited to sing the national anthem, not do commentary!” And that is 100% valid. The response is that artists always retain the right to put their individual artistry into any endeavor and when faced with a duty like this, they still have that right, they just better exercise it in a way of which the vast majority will approve or they’ll never be invited back. It is one of those, “Sure, of course, you can – just, don’t ever be wrong” things.
Trump’s comments about the 51st state stuff is pure adolescent trolling and been received as such by Canadians. Unsurprisingly, plenty of Americans have been embarrassed by the comments and have supported Canadians in their anger. It is fitting that the Canadians won again, the win came off a vicious wrist shot by Connor McDavid (Of course, the best player in the world right now would win it) from the slot, up over Hellebuyck’s right shoulder, fitting given the Canadians already had a win before the puck even dropped. This is classic “best in the world” stuff, Hellebuyck never had a chance:
THERE IT IS! THE GAME WINNER! THE TOURNAMENT WINNER! 😱😱😱 CONNOR MCDAVID HAS WON IT FOR CANADA!!! #4Nations
Goalies cannot stop what they can barely see, as happened last night. Additionally, fans can’t stop what they don’t know is coming, like an alteration in lyrics – so the singer best have read the room right. It sure feels like Kreviazuk was as solid as McDavid when she scored in her goal.
Congratulations Canada! We in the UK were cheering for you 🇬🇧🤝🇨🇦 #4Nations pic.twitter.com/5dxRqn30t2
— (((The Taiji Reporter)))🐬🇺🇦 (@TheTaijiNews) February 21, 2025
Updated 11:00 PM CST, February 20, 2025BOSTON (AP) — When they got around to playing the Canadian national anthem for the second time, there were no American fans left in the arena to boo.apnews.com/article/unit…
— NewJukeboxCafe (@newjukeboxcafe.bsky.social) 2025-02-21T05:27:40.774Z
God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak, and please now follow me on Bluesky (Trying to build up following there, slow but steady.)
“You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game.” Justin Trudeau.
Truer words were never spoke.
Not usually a “sports” fan at any time, but I just might take in interest in Canadian hockey. That was a beautiful shot that won the game. GO CANADA!
That is McDavid, the best player in the world, and you are right – one isn’t going to see a more perfect shot, puck was on his stick for one second, the next second it is just over the shoulder and hitting net. It really doesn’t get better. Goalie never had a chance really.
SO I play and teach hockey. I watched the goal in slow mo some 10 or 15 times. I could give you a 15 minute course on everything both we and the Yanks did right on that shift, including what made McDavid’s shot PERFECT, but since most people here aren’t hockey coaches like me, I’ll just say, it was as close to perfect as you can get. Nice article here Jason. Thanx
We all knew Canada would win and America would lose, the moment Trump stated his support.
Because everything he touches dies.