Players and media members spoke out against the behaviour of fans in Montreal during the singing of the U.S. National Anthem ahead of USA vs. Finland.
Team USA's 4 Nations tournament got off to a very good start on Thursday night, demolishing Team Finland by a score of 6-1 on the heels of a very impressive performance from Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk.
Things didn't start off well, however. Despite a plea from PA announcer Michel Lacroix, fans in attendance booed the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner".
Following their dominant victory, the Tkachuk brothers took to the podium together to answer questions where Matthew was tapped by Brady to respond to the anthem booing. It was a very blunt response from the 27-year-old.
"I didn't like it. And that's all I've got."
Tkachuk's teammate, J.T. Miller, who is no stranger to controversy, offered a more elaborate answer during his media availability, using it at motivation.
"I think we like it," he said. "Not politically, but maybe just as a sense of, we know where we're at in Canada and I think that fires us up more than anything. So it's great."
Friday, on his "32 Thoughts" podcast, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman also expressed his distain for the booing of the anthem, for a very sound reason.
"I don't like it... It's about respecting the people that sacrificed in wars... It happened a bit more on Thursday, and you can definitely expect it to happen Saturday."
As Canada and the U.S. continue to battle in the political world, the two sides will engage in what should be a very heated game Saturday night in Montreal with first place and potentially a bye to the finals on the line.
