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We Hope The World Was Watching

  • Writer: Charlie Teljeur
    Charlie Teljeur
  • Feb 26
  • 4 min read

Canada vs. USA for gold, and hope.
It's on.

Few countries have their national identity tied to a national sport more than Canada does with hockey. Brazilians love futbol but, for them, the quest for supremacy is more based on fulfilling an obsession than it is about defending their perceived ownership of a game.


For Canada, it's different. This country - for better or worse - put an inordinate amount of stock and effort into defending hockey supremacy internationally and will stop at nothing to keep the rest of the world from stealing "our game".


Canada erupts magnificently with the wins and grapples badly with the losses and it’s not entirely wrong to suggest that Canadians often can't see the line between passion and their insanity. It’s just a sport isn’t it?


Not in Canada it isn't. Defending the sport is part of the nation's pride and persona and it's not a stretch to say that the game has provided some of the most memorable moments in Canada's history. Not just its sports history, but its national history.


Hockey ties directly to Canadian's national identity, more so, its international identity. For a country that always aims to punch above its weight class, it's absolutely crucial that it wins whenever it plays, even more so when the game being played, is more than just about a game.


Cue the Four Nations Faceoff, an international exhibition simply designed to replace the traditional (yet dreadful) All Star Game. When the new format was announced the NHL had no idea how epic this tournament would turn out to be. Oftentimes world events can overshadow sporting events like this but, in this case, they added fuel to the fire.


If you were to write a story with this narrative it would seem too contrived. A relatively-benign, forward-thinking nation comes under attack from a neighbour they thought they knew. Not in the hockey sense, but in the global sense.


America, a massive nation in every possible measure, elects a reckless, power-hungry leader whose first act as President is to antagonize a longtime ally for no reason other than to maintain his theme of being a global bully.


This President, not long after taking power, threatens to annex Canada and start a unnecessary trade war that is roundly criticized as suicidal yet he continues on his idiotic quest because he’s not someone known for his intelligence, dignity or diplomacy.


Canada responds with stoic hostility, adamantly refusing to back down to a bully and the world takes notice. No one - no nation - is foolish enough to challenge the prowess of the American military but to fight it out in a hockey game, that, Canada says, we can do. Real war is a death wish but faux war is deliciously symbolic.


This read like a predictable screenplay. Four teams may have started the tournament but nobody was hoping for a final between Finland and Sweden, except maybe Finland and Sweden, and even that may be in doubt. Destiny would have the last word here.





A hockey game where the world, and one nation in particular, hoped to see Goliath dinged with a big rock or two. Given the buildup from the previous match between the two, where the game started with three fights in the first nine seconds, it’s not stretching it to say that most of the world was waiting for this one.


This is not to say that American pride wasn’t on the line as well but it certainly wasn't emboldened with nearly the same level of unanimity as was Canada.


It's no secret to say that a fair number of Americans were cheering for Canada as well. Not because they hate their own country but because they hate what their country has been turning into. Nobody likes the bully, even when they're considered family.


And that's the thing, this game became something truly epic because of what it symbolized, for everyone involved. The threat from America is real and, in essence, Canada’s hockey players are the first soldiers into battle. A faux battle certainly, but a battle nonetheless.


The United States thus became Canada’s Russia, even though it needs to be recognized that what Canada faced is nothing close to what Ukraine is dealing with everyday and while the reality of the two situations couldn’t be more different, the dynamics are very similar.


Two declining empires, both rotting from the inside, obsessed with taking as many casualties as they can take when they go. Except, in this scenario, all deaths are purely psychological.


Interestingly, cliche storylines don’t read that way when they play out in real life. A relatively small country, facing an unprovoked and unnecessary invasion on multiple levels, becomes the tip of the spear for the resistance. A symbolic victory is still a victory, regardless of how it happens. The world needs hope, Canada needs resolve and The United States Of America needs some humility.


And that’s why we hope the world was watching this.


Yes, because hockey is a fantastic sport that could use more attention but this game became the one chance - the first chance - for the little guy to throw a devastating punch or two to get the bully's attention.


And, if a small nation can take on a newly-minted, nation-state bully like the USA (even in a fake battle like this) what can other countries do as a newly-united - and now, suddenly inspired - global community in the real world?


********



The End. FIni. Stop reading.

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