Former UAF Hockey Captain Caught Up in an International Fight
By Autumn McPherson and Colin A. Warren
During the match-off between the United States of America and Canada for the Four Nations Hockey Tournament on February 15, a political stance was voiced in the sports world. While the speakers were playing “Oh Canada” over the stadium, the audience was heard singing along to the song. Then, when the National Anthem for the USA began playing, the Canadian audience overpowered the stadium with booing, showing political distaste for their southern neighbors.
The booing was presumed to be in response to multiple forms of aggression towards Canada from the Trump administration. This includes threatening 25% tariffs placed on Canadian goods – a threat that has been paused until early March.
Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau told Reuters on February 19 that he is focusing on ensuring the tariffs don’t go into effect. Economists have theorized that Canada could slide into a recession if they do.
President Trump has numerous times commented that Canada should become America’s 51st state.
“I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state,” said President Trump while going to the Super Bowl in early February. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted “We look forward to the United States beating our soon-to-be 51st state, Canada,” on February 20.
Trudeau has responded to this threat by saying, “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”
Once the game began and the puck officially hit the ice, gloves were torn off within seconds in the first fight of the match between USA player Mathew Tkachuk and Canadian player Brandon Hagel.
There were three fights in the first nine seconds, two of them handled by the Tkachuk brothers on the USA team, one of whom, Brady Tkachuk, was already injured from the previous game.
There has not been a fight during the Four Nations Tournament since 1996.
"We needed to send a message. The message we wanted to send is ‘It's our time.’” said Matthew Tkachuk, according to CBS News. His brother Brody also commented that there was a group chat made before the match, planning to fight during the interview.
During the next puck drop, Matthew’s brother Brady immediately fought with Sam Bennet. Seconds afterward, J.T. Miller fought with Canadian player Colton Parayko, a former UAF hockey captain.
Parayko was in the CCHA and WCHA during his time at UAF between 2012 and 2015. He then spent a year with the Chicago Wolves in the AHL league before being picked up from the St. Louis Blues in the NHL league and joining team Canada for the Four Nations Tournament.
During the last match between the teams on February 20, Chantal Kreviuzuk was invited to sing “Oh Canada” live in the arena and changed the lyrics. She changed the line “in all of us command” to “that only us command.”
Canada took home the victory with a 3-2 score in a stunning overtime victory.
After the match, Kreviuzuk posted a photo on her Instagram of the changed lyrics written on her hand. Her publicist, Adam Gonshor, told The Associated Press that Kreviazuk made the change to protest President Donald Trump’s comments about turning Canada into the 51st state of the US.
“A lot of stuff going on with Canada and the USA right now, and us playing against each other was kind of a perfect storm for our sport,” said Nathan MacKinnon, a Canadian player, according to APNews.
Parayko, the former Nanook, stated, “I felt strong…I just wanted to be steady more than anything. I wasn’t trying to go there and be a player I wasn’t. I just tried to play good defense [and] move the puck up to the forwards. But mainly, just trying to play steady. I think that was the biggest thing. Lots to take from it and keep building on it,” according to the New York Times, once he returned to St. Louis after the tournament.
After Canada won, Trudeau wrote to X, “You can’t take our country – and you can’t take our game.”