American hockey star Zach Werenski reacts to national anthem boos

The U.S. and Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off matchup on Saturday night quickly became a slugfest as multiple players dropped gloves following boos during “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The Americans defeated Canada, 3-1, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, but U.S. defenseman Zach Werenski was unhappy with the booing during the national anthem. In the NHL, boos have been heard during the song after Trump announced tariffs on Canada, which have since been paused. The president has also teased Canadians with the idea of Canada becoming the “51st state.”

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Team USA forward Matthew Tkachuk, right, celebrates his goal with defenseman Zach Werenski during the Team Finland game at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Feb. 13, 2025. (David Kirouac-Imagn Images)

Still, the boos have been heard.

“We knew it was going to happen,” Werenski said. “It happened the last game, it’s been happening in the NHL before this, and we knew tonight was going to be the same way. We obviously don’t like it.”

The U.S. faced boos ahead of their game against Finland and later won 6-1.

“It is what it is,” Werenski said. “We kind of had an idea. We used it as motivation the best we could and found a way to get a win. But we had an idea going into it, so it wasn’t a surprise. Definitely don’t like it, though.”

Saturday’s game saw three fights occur in the first nine seconds.

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Canada’s Brandon Hagel and Matthew Tkachuk of the U.S. fight during their 4 Nations Face-Off game in Montreal on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Matthew Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, his brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett and J.T. Miller fought Colton Parayko. Brady Tkachuk told ESPN that his brother’s fight “happened pretty organically.”

“Matthew said that he wanted to go first, it just happened and now it’s over and done with,” he said. “It’s right when Matthew found out the starting lineup, he said that he wanted a piece of him (Hagel).”

Hagel added that he thought it was a “long time coming” between him and Matthew Tkachuk.

Conor McDavid started the scoring for Canada but the U.S. answered with a Jake Guentzel goal. Dylan Larkin scored in the second period to take the lead. Guentzel then put in an empty-netter.

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Canada’s Brandon Hagel fights with United States’ Matthew Tkachuk in Montreal on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Graham Hughes//The Canadian Press via AP)

“It’s just unbelievable, the atmosphere, to play on this stage in Canada, that was pretty cool for all of us I think,” Guentzel added. “There’s a lot of excitement from our team coming out for warmups and just seeing how packed it was. That was pretty special.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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