Auston Matthews and his Team USA teammates have faced heavy criticism from Canadian fans following their Olympic gold-medal win. Now, an NHL insider has shared his thoughts on the backlash.
Team USA defeated Team Canada in overtime in the Olympic gold-medal game, with the winning goal scored by Jack Hughes.
READ MORE: Matthew Tkachuk slammed for his words about Donald Trump
Auston Matthews and Donald Trump controversy
After claiming gold, several American players—particularly those playing for Canadian NHL teams, such as Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators and captain Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs—became targets of intense criticism from Canadian fans.
Much of the backlash stems from the team’s interactions with Donald Trump. After the victory, Trump called the players in the locker room and made a joke about the women’s team, which outraged many fans. Team USA later visited the White House, where they toured the grounds and met with the President.
TSN Overdrive talked about it
The podcast TSN Overdrive recently discussed the situation. Hosts Bryan Hayes and Jeff O’Neill debated whether the criticism could pressure players like Tkachuk and Matthews to consider leaving their Canadian teams. Hayes argued that the players had every right to celebrate their Olympic win without needing to apologize.
Insiders thoughts
“I thought when they initially announced him as captain of the U.S. team, there’d be boos because the Americans beat Canada. What has been lost in all of this—because it has gone off the rails, with the White House and Trump involved—is that a lot of Canadians are just going to boo the U.S. because it’s a rivalry and they lost the game. A lot of it is just people in their feelings because the States beat Canada. It’s not his responsibility to consider the emotions of Canadians. He won and he celebrated,” Hayes said.
He continued:
“The idea of completely throwing off the direction of your career because of four or five days of crazy emotion—that, to me, is equally crazy and ridiculous for both of them. Cooler heads prevail. They will prevail. There are a lot of people pissed off in Leafland for a lot of different reasons.”
You can watch the video below.
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