Only a few hours ago, America and Canada faced each other in the game which could potentially become one of the most important in Zach Werenski’s career. But before we even get into that—let’s talk about sportsmanship. It’s the backbone of any athlete’s mindset, right? Well… maybe not SO much when it comes to the USA vs. Canada. Hockey is already an icy battlefield, and things can get extra heated despite the freezing rink. That was exactly the case at the Bell Centre in Montréal when Team USA took on Finland a few days ago. Now, you’d think playing in a Canadian rink would come with at least a little hospitality, but no—things took a messy turn before the puck even hit the ice.

Paying respect to the national anthems is a tradition that is observed in all forms of sports, and hockey does not exclude this tradition either. But in that match? The Team USA did not receive a very warm reception. Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson went on X to give the tea and said, “The PA announcer asked everyone to respect the anthems. It went quiet for a moment, and some dude yelled, ‘F— that!’ and the rink proceeded to boo the American anthem.” Yikes. That’s not just unsportsmanlike—that’s straight-up disrespectful. And guess what? It happened again. Now, Zach Werenski is stepping up with his final word on Canada’s anthem booing, and let’s just say, he’s not sugarcoating it.

Zach Werenski didn’t hold back when talking about the wave of boos that, at this point, feel like a recurring theme. In the post-game conference, he shrugged it off, saying, “Yeah, we knew it was going to happen.” After what went down last game—and the fact that this has “been happening in the NHL before this”—the team saw it coming from a mile away. But that can’t make it any easier to swallow. “We obviously don’t like it. We’re proud Americans. But it is what it is.”

Still, rather than letting the crowd get under their skin, Team USA took it all in stride. Werenski explained, “We kind of had an idea. We used it as motivation the best we could, and yeah, found a way to get a win.” The boos? Not a shocker. The energy? Unmatched. And at the end of the day, they walked away with the W, proving that no amount of heckling can knock them off their game.

People turn around and say ‘no politics in sports’ but as we all know, politics always has a way of influencing even the smallest aspects of life and this was evident when huge policy shifts started happening. On February 2, President Donald Trump issued a new order that levied tariffs on imported goods from Canada, Mexico, and China–25% for the former two countries and 10% for China. And if all this was not enough, he topped it up by suggesting that he wanted to annex Canada as the 51st state.

The last one irked the neighbors up north. Given the fact that the NHL is a highway between the two countries, it was only a matter of time before the animosity was brought to the ice. Cue the boo birds. On that very same day, when the U.S. national anthem played before the game commenced between the Senators and Wild, the Canadian crowd didn’t sit silent and they expressed that by booing. And it didn’t stop there.

Likewise, at other games across Canada, Calgary and Vancouver followed suit at their games, turning a pre-game tradition into a full-on protest. Even NBA players were not spared, the Raptors fans were seen changing from chanting to booing during the anthem at Scotiabank Arena. And the rest…is history. However, coming back to Zach Werenski, it was truly one of the biggest games of his career!

Zach Werenski and his biggest game!

Last Thursday in Montréal, Zach Werenski played for Team USA against Finland and after a slow start, the team woke up in the third period and scored four goals nonchalantly. However, that was just a prelude. The real main course? A long-awaited clash between the U.S. and Canada. For Werenski, this was not just any game; it was the game; the biggest game of his career. This was the first time in close to a decade that these two titans would face off in a game that would be considered a true showdown in history books.

Werenski wasn’t a newbie to the international scene—far from it. He had represented the colors of America at every age group; U17, U18, U20 and two World Championships. Last year alone, at the Worlds, he has participated in eight games and accumulated seven points together with Johnny Gaudreau and Gavin Brindley. But all those tournaments could not help him comprehend what was to transpire in Montréal.

And oh, did Team USA write history. Canada had been the more successful side in this confrontation for quite a long time, holding a 14-4-1 record in best-on-best play. But they would never have played an American team that was this strong, that had this much desire, that was constructed for victory. The result? A 3-1 win that ended a 15-year wait, proving that this U.S. team wasn’t just here to play—they were here to take over.