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NEW YORK – The recent national tension between the U.S. and Canada isn’t just spilling into hockey. It’s spilling into women’s hockey.
Multiple stars on the U.S. national women’s hockey team said they are prepared for hand-to-hand combat with Canadian opponents at the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
After Canadian fans booed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off this past February, U.S. women’s hockey star Caroline Harvey is prepared to hear it again ahead of her team’s games against Canada this upcoming February in Italy.
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“It’s expected, especially playing Canada,” Harvey told Fox News Digital of potential anthem booing at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee media summit. “They don’t like us very much. So it’s more motivating than anything and, personally, it fuels the fire and makes us want to, you know, beat them more than ever.”
And the “beating” may not simply be in regard to the final score either.
Jamie Rattray, #47 of Canada, fights Abbey Murphy, #37 of the United States, in the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship Group A match played at WinSport Arena on August 26, 2021, in Calgary, Canada. (Derek Leung/Getty Images)
“I don’t like them either. They’re a respectable competitor, they’re so good, and always give us such a hard game, it’s so back-and-forth. But when we get in the heat of the moment, we just always fight and don’t like them,” she added.
“It does get personal at times.”
The first hockey fight Harvey, 23, has ever been in came against Canada and veteran Brianne Jenner. Harvey claims it took place ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, and was just “a scrap.”
“I don’t remember what was said, but it like was a fight. It was the first fight I’ve been in,” Harvey said. “Our helmets didn’t come off, but it was like a fight.”
Jenner was previously at the center of one of the most iconic fights in women’s hockey history during a 2013 pre-Olympic exhibition game in Vermont. A line brawl broke out with players from both teams wrestling each other to the ice and trying their best to land punches to helmeted heads. A total of 10 fighting majors were handed out with the penalty boxes at capacity for the final seconds of the game.
Harvey was just 11 years old when that fight occurred, but her teammate and Team USA leader Hilary Knight was there, and involved in the brawl.
Alex Carpenter, #25, Hilary Knight, #21, Britta Curl, #17, Caroline Harvey, #4, and Abbey Murphy, #37 of the United States, stand as USA’s flag is raised following their win over Czechia during the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship at Adirondack Bank Center on April 05, 2024, in Utica, New York. (Troy Parla/Getty Images)
Now, Knight, 36, is prepared to renew the fighting spirit against the neighbors from the North in Italy, and, like Harvey, is prepared to hear her national anthem booed.
“Definitely, I think you have to be prepared for everything,” Knight told Fox News Digital when asked if she was prepared for a fight and anthem booing when it came time to play Canada. “We’ll see what happens.”
But Knight is keeping her thoughts on her rivals more tight-lipped than her younger teammate.
“I don’t want to give any poster board material, I know better, because I would post it in ours,” Knight said.
When told about Harvey’s comments, Knight mocked her younger teammate for letting her phone fall out of her pocket while on the ice during a Women’s World Cup game in April.
“Is she keeping her cellphone?” Knight teased.
Still, Knight shared the emotional rush that comes with Canada.
“When the puck drops, your heart is beating out of your chest, you’re like, am I human?” she said of games vs Canada.
Knight said earlier, “I think the U.S. Canada rivalry will always be there and no matter how many other countries are dueling in the final game that U.S.-Canada thing will always be special,” and later added, “We bring out the best in one another, because there’s just so much pride, and I don’t know if that’s just generations and generations of sort of that clash of on the world stage or what that is.”
The rivalry is even enough to push fellow U.S. women’s hockey veteran Kendall Coyne Schofield, the mother of a toddler and self-described “lover, not a fighter,” to prepare for potential combat against her Canadian rivals.
Coyne Shofield recalled the “spiciest” moment in the rivalry being the 2013 brawl in Vermont. But unlike Knight, who was in the thick of the action, Coyne Shofield says she was on the bench and watched from a distance.
“I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so thankful I’m not on the ice.’ Of course, you want to help your teammate, but I would not have been much of a help in that scenario,” Coyne Shofield said. “I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
But this time around, Coyne Shofield says she’s willing and ready to hop into a brawl against Canada if it gets to that point in Milan Cortina.
“If I have to, I have to,” she said. “And I wouldn’t say I’m not a fighter in the sense that I’ve fought for many things in life. But I would just say in general, fighting is not a strength of my game. But if I’m out there, and I have to, you know, help my teammates out, I will. But you won’t find me starting the fight, I can tell you that.”
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The hockey rivalry between the two countries erupted in the men’s game earlier this year during the 4 Nations Face-Off incident as tension between the two countries’ heightened after President Donald Trump imposed new sweeping tariffs on Canada, initiating a trade war.
Now, with the Winter Olympics less than 100 days away, the hockey rivalry between the teams is set to hit a high point in its history, with tensions between the countries burning even hotter.
Trump recently called off trade negotiations with Canada — after Canada attempted to use former President Ronald Reagan’s words about tariffs as a swipe against Trump’s tariff policies, and after Canada has championed some protectionist policies of its own.
The government of the Canadian province of Ontario released a campaign ad Oct. 14 quoting a radio address Reagan delivered in April 1987, when he said, “Over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.”
Meanwhile, Canada has backed multiple protectionist policies for decades, and in recent years. These policies attempt to limit international trade to create less competition for domestic industries through the use of tariffs or import quotas.
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Emily Clark, #26, Sarah Fillier, #10, and Renata Fast, #14 of Canada, fight Megan Keller, #5 of the United States, in the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship Group A match played at WinSport Arena on August 26, 2021 in Calgary, Canada. (Derek Leung/Getty Images)
The ad did not receive a warm welcome in the U.S. In response, Trump slammed Canada for releasing the ad, and nixed trade talks with Canada after meeting with Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney Oct. 7.
“CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!! They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Meanwhile, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to continue his legacy, released a Thursday statement claiming that the ad campaign used “selective audio” that “misrepresents” Reagan’s address.
Carney has already channeled the tensions into sports trash talk, accusing Trump of being “afraid” to bet on the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I think he’s afraid to make a bet,” Carney said to The Associated Press last week. “He doesn’t like to lose. He hasn’t called. He hasn’t returned my call yet on the bet, so I’m ready. We’re ready to make a bet with the U.S.”
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