The U.S. made history at the most recent 4 Nations Face-Off game when they proceeded so start three fist fights within nine seconds of the game. What brought this on was when Canada booed the U.S. national anthem, despite the announcement to respect all countries' anthems before the game. There were already tensions between the countries due to Donald Trump's announcement of wanting Canada to be the U.S. 51st state.
This would be the first fight to happen at an international hockey tournament since 2004. Tensions in the game had also been high because of previous boos at the U.S. earlier games. Despite the boos from Canada, some Canadians believe that the behavior was unacceptable.
Canada's Brad Marchand stated, "There should not be any of that. We're here to play a hockey game. They can boo all they want during the games. The anthems should be off-limits. [Players] have nothing to do with political things that are going on."
Matthew and Brady Tkachuk were the heart of the fights. They started as soon as the game started, beating the record of a fight starting in an international game which was within twenty seconds. That record was held by their own father who fought two Canadian players in 1996 during the World Cup of Hockey.
Matthew said that, "We needed to send a message."
After everything that happened, the U.S. took home the win with a 3-1 score.
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