MONTREAL (AP) 鈥� Fans in Montreal booed the U.S. national anthem prior to the Americans鈥� first game of the 4 Nations Face-Off against Finland on Thursday night, and Stanley Cup-winning forward Matthew Tkachuk had a simple reaction.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 like it, and that鈥檚 all I got," Tkachuk said after the 6-1. Tkachuk and brother Brady each had two goals.
The negative reaction to "The Star-Spangled Banner鈥� came even after the public address announcer at Bell Centre made an announcement asking the crowd to show respect for the anthems and the players from either country.
鈥淥ur goal is to make sure that we create an environment and that hockey represents an opportunity to bring people together, and I think people understand that,鈥� Commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday at a news conference prior to the start of the tournament. 鈥淚n this building, initially there was some booing a couple of games ago and the club made an announcement asking people to stop and show respect for two great countries, and it stopped. And that鈥檚 what we expect.鈥�
U.S. center J.T. Miller put a positive spin on the song getting booed.
鈥淚 think we like it, not politically, but maybe just at a sense of, we know where we鈥檙e at in Canada and I think that fires us up more than anything,鈥� Miller said. 鈥淪o, it鈥檚 great.鈥�
There was no such reaction for Finland鈥檚 national anthem that followed. Fans across Canada have after President Donald Trump against the country, prompting backlash from a close neighbor and longtime ally.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunate, obviously, and we wish it wasn鈥檛 the case, but from time to time things happen, and people have strong feelings about it,鈥� Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said Wednesday. 鈥淥bviously, we鈥檙e aware of what鈥檚 been happening here. I think the negativity has probably lessened over the last week. Hopefully it continues to lessen and that relations will be normal. But it鈥檚 something obviously we鈥檙e aware of.鈥�
U.S. captain Auston Matthews was booed during a pregame ceremony before Canada vs. Sweden on Wednesday and then again when he was shown on video screens during warmups. Matthews said after his team's morning skate that he expected that reaction.
鈥淭hey might just be booing us because we鈥檙e the U.S. team here, like Auston鈥檚 getting booed a ton and whatnot," defenseman Zach Werenski said. "Obviously, I鈥檓 a proud American and I love playing for the USA and being an American. I don鈥檛 want to get into the political side of it, but it is what it is. I like to just view it as they want us to lose because we鈥檙e the U.S. team.鈥�
Coach Mike Sullivan said his players are proud Americans but did not credit the anthem booing as any sort of motivation that contributed to the result.
鈥淭he anthem, I'm not sure there鈥檚 influence there,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really not something that we can control. We just want to play hockey. We want to compete. We want to represent our nation in the right way.鈥�
The next U.S. game at the tournament is Saturday night against Canada before play shifts to Boston next week.
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AP NHL:
Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press
