President Donald Trump tweaked Canada Thursday while cheering on Team USA as Thursday night’s grudge rematch loomed in the finals of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The 4 Nations Face-Off, a four-team ice hockey tournament run by the NHL, includes Canada, the United States, Finland, and Sweden.
On Saturday, the United States defeated Canada 3-1, allowing the U.S. to reach the Thursday night final.
The game got off to an antagonistic start when Montreal fans booed “The Star-Spangled Banner,” followed by a series of on-ice fights that set the tone for the game.
Trump reiterates Canada will be a 51st state: pic.twitter.com/1f8ZgqIgy9
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) February 20, 2025
On Thursday, Trump continued his reference to Canada as a possible 51st state, a long-running jab that has been less than amusing to Canadians.
“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 in a post on Truth Social.
I can’t even begin to tell you how much everything said here angers me.
We will NEVER be the 51st state.
STOP calling PRIME MINISTER Justin Trudeau “governor”.
We need security from the US only!
I hope Canada beats the US 20-0 for this message alone!!!#4Nations pic.twitter.com/e7KAGJwKJN
— Jen (ESC) 🇨🇦❤️🦋 (@Smil3yAngel) February 20, 2025
“I will be speaking before the Governors tonight in D.C., and will sadly, therefore, be unable to attend. But we will all be watching, and if Governor Trudeau would like to join us, he would be most welcome,” he wrote.
“Good luck to everybody, and have a GREAT game tonight. So exciting!” Trump wrote.
Team USA received a call from the President this morning to wish them luck ahead of tonight’s #4Nations championship game. pic.twitter.com/he1kIgUVGW
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 20, 2025
Trump spoke to the team for about five minutes Thursday morning, according to TSN.
“It was cool, right? It’s the president of the United States,” defenseman Brock Faber said. “When you’re a kid, you don’t really think that that’s ever going to be a possibility, but it’s really cool.”
Faber said Trump told the players, “Just have fun, enjoy it. It was pretty quick, but just enjoy the pride of wearing the red, white and blue.”
“It was pretty cool. So awesome to hear the support,” forward J.T. Miller said.
“It’s a pretty big deal for him to take time out of his schedule to talk to us for five minutes, and just another one of those things where we’re kind of pinching ourselves this tournament,” he said.
“It’s been really fun so far, and seeing the support from everybody up to the president, it’s been pretty wild,” he said.
