In a game where the national anthems of the respective teams playing were going to make as much news as the final outcome, let’s just put it this way: Chantal Kreviazuk didn’t do her home and native land much good.
Was she trying to troll President Donald Trump and the American crowd? Did she buckle under the pressure? We didn’t know at the time. And frankly, who cared? I mean, except for Canadians, who should wonder why her performance — either as a troll move or a choke — didn’t reflect well upon the 51st state.
In case you haven’t been following, the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off — a tournament featuring the U.S., Canada, Finland, and Sweden — has been marked by geopolitical tensions spilling over into sports.
First, the U.S. national anthem was booed at Montreal’s Bell Centre before America’s win against Finland last Thursday. Players weren’t happy.
“I didn’t like it. That’s all I got,” U.S. star Matthew Tkachuk said after the game.
Then, on Saturday against Canada — again in the Bell Centre — “The Star-Spangled Banner” was again booed by Canadians. This time, Tkachuk, along with his brother Brady Tkachuk, and J.T. Miller of the U.S. team, managed to make Canada pay for that, hockey-style:
How the “Star-Spangled Banner” sounded inside Bell Centre before USA-Canada at #4Nations.
Plenty of boos. pic.twitter.com/EFoKJMFuAh
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) February 16, 2025
USA vs. Canada started off in MADNESS ????
????: ABC/ESPN+/Disney+ pic.twitter.com/BrWlXzMb7J
— ESPN (@espn) February 16, 2025
Not only were there three fights in nine seconds, but the U.S. won against heavily favored Canada, which was on a 17-game winning streak in international play dating back to 2010.
“Matthew’s fight to start it off was such an energy boost,” Brady Tkachuk said. “I think I was more excited, more nervous than my own. And then Millsy to cap it off to go against a big guy like that, I think he did a great job.”
The U.S. lost in overtime in the final at the TD Garden in Boston on Thursday, 3-2. However, just getting a supposedly superior Canada team to OT was a moral victory, in and of itself, but let’s consider the duel of the national anthems this time around.
First, the Americans:
One of the coolest moments I’ve ever witnessed. The ENTIRE arena sang the US National Anthem in unison. The ending is impossible to describe… pic.twitter.com/44yYnUkwmn
— Dan Zaksheske (@RealDanZak) February 21, 2025
Now, the Canadians:
That was an interesting version of the Canadian national anthem…
????: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/vw6IptkwEL
— Daily Faceoff (@DailyFaceoff) February 21, 2025
OK, so this isn’t quite track legend Carl Lewis infamously mishandling “The Star-Spangled Banner” before an NBA game in 1993 (a now-legendary clip from ESPN’s SportsCenter featured anchor Charlie Steiner, in between fits of uncontrollable laughter, noting that the anthem was apparently “written by Francis Scott ‘Off’ Key“), but in a game where the anthem was taking center stage, it stood quite in contrast to the American anthem.
First, forget the performance, which was pretty weak. (I’ve never been a fan of Chantal Kreviazuk, who has a cult audience in the States, but this was bad even for her.) The question is, was this a protest, or simply her screwing it up?
She starts with “O Canada,” which is good, since that’s the title of the song. Easy enough to remember.
The second line she decided to sing in French, apparently for inclusivity’s sake: “Terre de nos aïeux,” what it sounds like to my ears she sang (I confess to not being a Francophone), is indeed correct, but she then went into English for the third verse: “True patriot love that only us command.” [Emphasis mine.]
Actual lyrics? “True patriot love in all of us command.”
Canada’s SportsNet reported that this was a protest against Donald Trump, who had weighed in on the game beforehand:
Trump reiterates Canada will be a 51st state: pic.twitter.com/1f8ZgqIgy9
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) February 20, 2025
“In an email to The Canadian Press, publicist Adam Gonshor explained that Kreviazuk changed the lyric from ‘in all of us command’ to ‘that only us command’ in response to Trump’s comments,” SportsNet Canada noted.
“Kreviazuk also posted to her Instagram story the phrase ‘that only us command’ written on her left hand with emojis of a Canadian flag and a flexed muscle.”
Boy, she sure showed us — by changing her own national anthem for political ends. Just like true patriots do, by booing other national anthems simply because they don’t like the president.
And her excuse for her poor performance? Her arrant bravery, of course.
“My voice probably sounded not as stable, and it was because it made me so emotional,” she told the Canadian Press in an interview.
“I was singing for our pride, for our honor, our sovereignty, our history — the good, the bad — and the future.”
If that’s the best you’re going to offer for your honor, sovereignty, history, and the future — which is to say, the progressive vision of Canada — why not just accept that 51st state offer now? You get two Democratic senators, you won’t be led by Pierre Poilievre next time you go to the polls, and we’ll even still let you pretend the Barenaked Ladies, Chantal Kreviazuk, and the Tragically Hip are important.
Plus, we’ll still let you win in hockey. Eventually.
The art of the deal in action, ladies and gentlemen.
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