MONTREAL — On the eve of Valentine’s Day, the boys in the red, white and blue weren’t getting any love north of the border.
The United States made its debut against Team Finland on Thursday night in the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Americans were roundly booed by the mostly Canadian crowd before Game 2 of the tournament at the Bell Centre.
American captain Auston Matthews, who gets nothing but cheers from fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs, wasn’t expecting to get a warm welcome and his team was booed when it skated onto the ice.
Matthews was jeered when he was shown on the video scoreboard during the warmup and even louder during pre-game introductions.
“I don’t think it’s anything that we’re not accustomed to,” Matthews said following the U.S. club’s morning skate. “You look around the room and there’s a lot of guys that don’t mind playing that villain role.
“I don’t think it’s something that you really think about or play a big part or affect us. We’re just going to go out there, play hockey and be prepared from the start.”
Matthews had already experienced the boos 24 hours earlier, when he was introduced with the legendary Mario Lemieux along with hockey heroes Mike Richter, Daniel Alfredsson and Teemu Selanne in the pre-game ceremony before Canada faced off against Sweden.
“It’s all good. I was kind of expecting it,” Matthews said. “It was kind of a cool moment just to kick off the tournament, seeing Selanne, Mario, Richter, Alfredsson, and guys like that, who had a big impact on this game before us. The ovation Mario got was pretty cool.”
The Finnish players were hopeful they might have the crowd on their side.
“We’ll see what happens,” Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers said. “I know there’s always a rivalry between USA and Canada, so we’ll see. It’ll be a lot of fun.
“Yesterday was an amazing atmosphere, I got to experience an amazing moment there on the ice and they welcomed Mario Lemieux back in the building, it was one of the coolest moments I’ve ever been part of. It was a great experience and great atmosphere too.”
Michel Lacroix, the longtime public-address announcer at the Montreal rink, did ask the crowd before the Finnish and Star Spangled Banner were performed to be respectful and not to jeer.
The booing started at the Canadian Tire Centre on Feb. 1 in Ottawa, one day after U.S. President Donald Trump reached an agreement with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to hold off on imposing tariffs on goods from Canada going into the United States for a month.
The Montreal fans booed the Star Spangled Banner at the start and at the end. It wasn’t everybody but it was certainly audible.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said he was hopeful those days were behind us.
“It’s unfortunate and we wish it wasn’t the case,” Daly said. “But, from time to time, things happen, and people have strong feelings about it, and we’re aware of what’s been happening here.
“The negativity has probably lessened over the last week. Hopefully, it continues to lessen and relations will be normal, but it’s something we’re aware of and we’ll follow.”
Commissioner Gary Bettman is hoping the temperature between the two countries will normalize soon and the fans will enjoy the game between Canada and the U.S. on Saturday.
“And our goal is to make sure that we create an environment and that hockey represents an opportunity to bring people together,” Bettman said. “And I think people understand that in 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’s what we expect.”