Canadians Are Now Being Urged To Not Boo 12-Year-Old PeeWee Hockey Players From America
Patrice Lapointe. Shutterstock Images.TSN -- Quebec City officials are urging the public not to boo the preteen American hockey players who will be in town for a prestigious international peewee tournament that begins next week.
Mayor Bruno Marchand noted Tuesday that some Canadian fans have been booing the American national anthem at NHL and NBA games since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose crippling tariffs against Canada.
He told a news conference that he understands the desire to "send a message" to the United States but stressed that ordinary American visitors — and especially children — shouldn't pay the price for their president's actions. "Booing peewees, going after people who come here to visit, to spend money here in our restaurants, our hotels, our events, would be a very bad idea," he said.
The USA vs Canada rivalry in hockey is one of the greatest rivalries in sports. Now granted, at the Olympic level it might be more of a one-sided rivalry with Canada having much more success. But World Juniors? U18 World Championships? The fact that no Canadian-market team has won a Stanley Cup since 1993? And don't even get me started on the women's side of things, which is an absolute bloodbath between the two nations.
The rivalry is as alive and well as it's ever been. And it's only going to get more intense over the next couple of weeks with the 4-Nations Faceoff set to get underway in Boston and Montreal. Or, at least, that's what we thought was going to be the most intense environment for American hockey players in Canada this upcoming week.
But turns out these maple syrup guzzling hosers had their eyes set on the Quebec International Peewee Hockey Tournament. And I'll tell you this right now--if a bunch of these ketchup chip eating jabronis went to an ice rink solely for the purpose of booing a bunch of 12-year-olds because of international politics that they don't even know are happening? Well that would be enough to turn USA Hockey into an unstoppable force that would be fueled purely by the destruction of Hockey Canada at every level. The rivalry would cease to exist because USA Hockey would stop at nothing to make sure they own Canada in every single tournament moving forward.
Fortunately for Hockey Canada, it seems the officials in Quebec City are trying to get out in front of this thing. Now if only they could put out the same caution to fans going to the Bell Centre for USA vs Canada next Saturday night.