ESPN broadcaster talks navigating politics while calling USA-Canada 4 Nations final: 'Had to say something'
The USA-Canada hockey rivalry reached its hottest point earlier this month at the 4 Nations Face-Off, and the fans — and politics — played major roles.
In USA's first game of the tournament, which was against Finland in Montreal, the Canadian crowd booed the "Star-Spangled Banner." Two days later, the Montreal crowd again booed the USA anthem before the two bordering countries got into three fights in the first nine seconds of their highly anticipated team.
Sure, politics may not have directly led to the fights, but they sure were the main factor for the large boos.
The national anthem battles began earlier this month when Ottawa Senators fans booed the "Star-Spangled Banner" on Feb. 1, when Trump's tariffs on goods from Canada to the U.S. were set to be implemented (they have since been delayed). It also happened during a Toronto Raptors game the next day, and it carried over all the way to Boston, when Americans faintly booed the Canadian anthem in both of their games on USA soil.
Sean McDonough was on the call for the final, which wound up being a 3-2 overtime win for Canada over USA, but he said while he needed to keep focus on the ice, he felt a need to bring up the politics between the two countries.
"I think in this instance, we had to say something," McDonough said on the "Sports Media" podcast. "I felt like I had to say something because it was an issue — and I guess I contributed to it by what I said on the radio show, but there needed to be some acknowledgment."
McDonough, earlier that week, said he had hoped Americans didn't boo the Canadian national anthem ahead of the final, which he said became a big deal in the media.
"I had said before — it's amazing how our business works. I'm on a couple of talk shows. I got asked about the booing, and I said, 'I hope they don't boo.' 'I just hope the Americans don't boo. I understand why the Canadians are upset: the tariffs, the 51st state stuff.' And to the point that people are more interested in this because of that, that was much more, in my experience, an issue in Canada than it was in Boston. There were people talking about, 'Oh, the politics of it,' where in Canada, they were."
"It's interesting how our thing works," he added. "I said, 'Well, I hope they don't boo.' Well, then the headlines on these articles become 'Sean McDonough [inaudible] not to boo,' like I called a press conference and said, 'Do not boo.' All I said was, 'I hope they don't boo.' But it's like I called a press conference and begged people not to [boo]. I answered a question and said, 'I hope they don't boo.'"
McDonough added that, had he known Canadian anthem singer Chantal Kreviazuk purposely changed the words as a shot at President Donald Trump, "I would've acknowledged." But, he initially thought it was an accidental flubbing of the lyrics.
The win improved Canada's record against USA in best-on-best formats to 14-4-1, with wins including the 2002 and 2010 Olympic gold medal games and the 2014 Olympic semifinal.
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