{"id":490637,"date":"2026-02-21T20:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T20:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/490637\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T20:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T20:32:08","slug":"brady-tkachuk-admits-to-hatred-as-us-and-canada-prepare-for-olympic-mens-ice-hockey-final-winter-olympics-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/490637\/","title":{"rendered":"Brady Tkachuk admits to \u2018hatred\u2019 as US and Canada prepare for Olympic men\u2019s ice hockey final | Winter Olympics 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US and Canada are prepared for a stormy men\u2019s ice hockey final on Sunday as the long-time rivals face off for Winter Olympic gold<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Olympics mark the first time NHL players have competed at the Winter Games since 2014, meaning many of the best players in the world will face each other on Sunday. While Canada are the betting favourites \u2013 and have won the most ice hockey golds in Olympic history \u2013 the US players say they have motivation to upset their northern neighbours.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s hatred there,\u201d USA\u2019s Brady Tkachuk told ESPN on Saturday<\/a>. \u201cI mean, they\u2019ve been the top dog. They\u2019ve been the best for the last bunch of years, and for us, we want to be in that position, be the best. So it\u2019s going to be a game where I think a lot of guys could say, this is the biggest game that they\u2019ve ever played in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rivalry between the teams has sharpened recently, particularly as political tensions have risen between Canada and the United States. At last year\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, Canadian fans booed the US anthem<\/a> and there were a number of on-ice fights.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s Connor McDavid acknowledged there is extra spice when his team play the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the game everybody wanted and hoped for, and it will be a great game,\u201d he said. \u201cIt now comes down to one game between two teams. It is a hockey game, and we are excited about that. Team Canada playing Team USA in a hockey game \u2013 that is what it is.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the US beat Canada<\/a> to claim gold in the women\u2019s tournament. USA\u2019s Vincent Trocheck said the win had added a little extra motivation for the men.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, we saw the girls win,\u201d Trocheck told ESPN. \u201cObviously win gold for USA and if we can beat Canada on Sunday, it\u2019s just a clean sweep and I mean, that\u2019s what everyone\u2019s here for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The status of Canada\u2019s captain, Sidney Crosby, is still uncertain. The 38-year-old has won two Olympics golds and three Stanley Cups, but did not play in his team\u2019s semi-final win over Finland due to a knee injury. Canada coach Jan Cooper said he would wait until the last minute before making a decision on Crosby\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will see. I watched him skate today and we will meet tonight,\u201d said Cooper. \u201cHe won\u2019t put himself in harm\u2019s way, and he will not put the team in harm\u2019s way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US\u2019s last gold in Olympic men\u2019s ice hockey came in 1980<\/a>. Canada\u2019s last gold was in 2014, when they retained the title they won in 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US and Canada are prepared for a stormy men\u2019s ice hockey final on Sunday as the long-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-490637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}