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How to watch Canada v USA
Obviously the perfect way to watch the game is via this very live blog. But we understand you may want to see actual moving images.
The game will take place at TD Garden in Boston at 8pm ET on Thursday night (aka tonight). In the US, you can watch it on ESPN, ESPN+ or stream on Fubo or Disney+. In Canada, tune into Sportsnet or TVA Sports.
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Canada 0-0 USA, 19:25 left, 1st period: We have started without fights. Just some minor shoving after Binnington covered up a US shot.
Or not – the ice crew has to clean up after the Pops.
Email from Gregory Butler: “Canadian here: you asked us for our thoughts on the game. As a Canadian, this opportunity to release some from the tension after all the Trump’s rhetoric and economic threatening of our country through a hockey game with the Americans is welcome. Finally an arena were we are evenly matched. The game reminds me of our match-ups against the Russians. It feels like a geopolitical event or maybe a duel. Like, “Let’s settle our differences on the ice.” But I’m curious what it is about the game that has attracted the Guardian to cover it. Hockey isn’t really in your country’s core consciousness. What draws you to a game like this?”
Personally, I’m American, and I fondly remember running around to celebrate in 1980. And the Capitals winning the Stanley Cup in 2018 might be my favorite sports moment.
Canadian goalie Jordan Binnington, ESPN reminds us, won the Stanley Cup for St. Louis in this arena, shutting down the Boston Bruins in 2019.
At last … hockey …
Once again, the PA announcer asks the crowd to respect the national anthems. For Canada, the singer is Chantal Kreviazuk, who had some great songs in the 90s. Surrounded was my favorite, but the whole album is pretty good. Check it out. Some Canadians in the crowd sing along, and the smattering of boos faded into applause at the end.
Members of the Boston Pops, the orchestra that dominated the airwaves in the 1970s when we only had four networks and one was PBS, are playing along with the singing of the US anthem. It’s a little ponderous, to be honest.
Wayne Gretzky is here as an honorary captain for Canada. He gets a respectful greeting from the US team and what seemed to be a mostly positive reaction from the crowd.
The USA’s honorary captain is 1980 gold medalist Mike Eruzione. He’s wearing a jersey with “Gaudreau” on the back in honor of the US player who died when a car ran into him while cycling.
Correction – Matthew Tkachuk did NOT scratch from this game. He’s in the starting lineup.
We return from a long ad break to see … the teams walking through the tunnels.
I have school in the morning. Can we get on with this, please?
Yes, “game time” was 8 pm ET. No, I don’t know when it’s actually going to start. We have not gotten to the national anthems yet.
ESPN is hyping US goalie Connor Hellebuyck, with good reason – he’s allowed just two goals in two games with a .957 save percentage.
Oh, look – ESPN is using the Miracle speech and interspersing it with scenes from the current US team’s locker room.
This US team, though, is a slight favorite. These are seasoned pros, and this Canadian team isn’t the Soviet Union circa 1980.
Lineup notes
For the USA: Kyle Connor is out, Chris Kreider is in.
Canada has some illness-related changes, Sportsnet reports: Seth Jarvis and Thomas Harley are in, Travis Konecny and Josh Morrissey are out.
The USA will also be without Charlie McAvoy. (Update: Matthew Tkachuk, though, will play.)
Scotties update …
Pool B standings with one game remaining (which is … now):
5-2 Einarson (Manitoba)
5-2 Black (Nova Scotia)
5-2 Inglis (Ontario)
5-3 St. Georges (Quebec, with former US curler Jamie Sinclair)
4-3 Lawes (Manitoba)
4-3 Cameron (Manitoba)
Three teams make the playoffs. First tiebreaker is head-to-head, so computing all the scenarios is next to impossible. But we know the second tiebreaker, which is LSD (not the psychedelic, but a measure of who can get draws closest to the button): Lawes, St. Georges, Einarson, Black, Cameron, Inglis
Current scores:
Inglis 3-1 Galusha (Inglis just now made a shot for 3)
Black 2-2 Cameron
Lawes 1-1 Einarson
The Canadians have raised their AI meme game.
Democratic senator Cory Booker posted on BlueSky to express what, in simpler times, would be no more controversial than “root, root, root for the home team.”
The responses have been … unkind.
With that, we’ll let the political subtext of this one slide for a while. This game seems more fraught with geopolitical intrigue than the Lake Placid “Miracle on Ice” in 1980, though, doesn’t it? The Miracle was so named because a bunch of college kids beat what was in essence a professional national team, with the Cold War tensions present but not the main story.
Shall we watch the pregame speech from the Miracle on Ice as depicted in the film Miracle?
This game will be in Boston, which means it’s a bit less likely that the crowd will boo the US national anthem.
But Canada’s locker room looks comfortable, doesn’t it? (See picture below.)
Welcome to tonight’s boxing …
Oops, no … welcome to tonight’s political roundtable …
Oops, no … apparently, this is a hockey game.
And it is indeed the second-most-important sports event in Canada this evening after, of course, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the Canadian women’s curling championship that could see a six-way tie for three places in the playoffs.
If you happen to be watching the Scotties (unlike us poor folks in the USA who are stuck without live coverage), feel free to drop me an email or two over the course of the evening. I’ll keep you up to date on the punching – I mean, politics – I mean, puck action.
How to watch Canada v USA
Obviously the perfect way to watch the game is via this very live blog. But we understand you may want to see actual moving images.
The game will take place at TD Garden in Boston at 8pm ET on Thursday night (aka tonight). In the US, you can watch it on ESPN, ESPN+ or stream on Fubo or Disney+. In Canada, tune into Sportsnet or TVA Sports.
Beau will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s a little something on the background to tonight’s game:
As usual, Canadians approached the latest international hockey tournament, the 4 Nations Face-Off, with worry. Despite top-tier talent and historic winning pedigree, the feeling that Canada could be off its game is a perennial concern. But in 2025, it is particularly profound – mostly because of the Americans.
Since the last time Canada played the US at an elite tournament in 2016, Canadians have watched the American program grow stronger and deeper, while Canada’s own has lost focus. Among the most pressing going concerns has been goaltending. Canada – or Québec more accurately – produced dominant goalies in excess for decades. No longer. They’re all Americans now.
The world juniors two months ago didn’t help things. Canada crashed out of that tournament on home ice with a squad few thought accurately represented the country’s top talent (which Hockey Canada, in typical national fashion, all but apologized for this week). Then the Americans won the whole thing (again), with a team that was about as stacked as they could make it.
So, if reputation redemption, or a simple recalibration of hockey dominance, was all that was at stake during Saturday night’s spicy contests between Canada and the US – the Americans came from behind to win 3-1 – it still would have been a doozy. And make no mistake, bragging rights were on the line. But there was more to it.
You can read the full article below:
