Fiction and non-fiction, the literary yin and yang, can tell great stories – some imagined, some pulled straight from history. But which produces the best stories? I say it’s the ones that unfold in real-time – before our eyes – on the grand stage of international sports because international sporting events are never just about the games.

Whether it’s the World Cup, the Olympics, or any other global showdown when two nations take the field, the court, or the ice, they don’t just bring their best athletes – they bring their histories, their tensions, and their national pride.

We’ve seen it time and time again: The Miracle on Ice wasn’t just a hockey game; it was a Cold War battle played out on ice in Lake Placid. The Hand of God? Maradona’s middle finger to England after the Falklands War. And India vs. Pakistan in cricket? Forget sports – those matches have the tensions of a high-stakes peace summit.

The best international sporting events don’t just produce great competition. They tell stories – stories of nations, of histories, of geopolitics bubbling just beneath the surface.

While those legendary moments are etched into sports history, history itself is never really done writing itself, is it? On a random week in February 2025, the sports gods gave us another installment in the great traditions of ‘Sports as Political Theatre” – and this time, it came from an unlikely place: USA vs. Canada in hockey.

When USA vs. Canada became more than just hockey

When the National Hockey League (NHL) set up the 4 Nations Face-Off, an exhibition tournament that would showcase the league’s top talent like no international tournament has been able to yet, in February 2024, there was no way its organizers would know just how charged the USA-Canada games would be.

Unlike the USA’s heated rivalry with Mexico (DOS A CERO!), the men’s hockey teams of the U.S. and Canada have historically had friendly rivalries—competitive but never outright hostile. If the two games these teams played over five days taught us anything, this has changed.

Prior to the games, a perfect (or not-so-perfect) storm (depending on your perspective) had been brewing:

All that and suddenly, for the first time in over a decade, the USA and Canada men’s teams were facing off with full-strength NHL rosters.

The last time that happened? Sochi 2014 – before the NHL decided Olympic participation was not good for business. Furthermore, Canada has owned the USA on the ice. Not since the 1996 World Cup of Hockey had the world seen the USA get the better of Team Canada in meaningful competition.

But a seemingly random week in mid-February gave us one of the hardest things to create – an All-Star game, an exhibition game, that mattered – take note NBA.

The perfect storm of hockey and politics

Nine seconds into Game 1 in Montreal, the gloves dropped and fights among the players broke out on the ice. Read that again – three fights in the first nine seconds of the game. A bigger statement than making a goal in the opening minute.

Final score: USA 3, Canada 1.

Heading into the Championship game in Boston that Thursday, suddenly the narrative flipped: Canada, perennial hockey powerhouse, was seen as the “underdog” despite having the more talented team on paper and the US was the team with all the right vibes. How? Why? Was this a direct result of the political tensions between the two nations?

Because let’s be real – Canadians are always passionate about hockey. But this tournament had an extra edge. Was it because Canada hasn’t hoisted the Stanley Cup (the trophy, not the cup that keeps things cool or hot, although many hockey players drink their beverage of choice from the cup after winning it) since 1993? Maybe it was because Connor McDavid – dubbed “Connor McOverrated” by Miami Herald columnist Greg Cote – failed to lead Edmonton to the promised land last season. To make matters worse, his Oilers lost to the Florida Panthers. Because of course, nothing says hockey dominance like a team from South Florida.

With tensions sky-high, the two teams met again for the championship game in Boston.

The final: a political thriller on ice

There’s an old saying in sports “You don’t play a game on paper.” As much as narratives drive sports, the game itself still has to be played.

And in this instance, when it mattered most, Connor McDavid delivered for his team.

Overtime. Sudden death.

Canada wins and hoists the cup.

Cue political fireworks. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a swipe at President Trump on social media and suddenly the 2026 Winter Games in Milan just got a whole lot more interesting.

What comes next?

Usually, moments like these are just snapshots in time. But this one feels different.

A new world order is forming. This wasn’t just about a trophy – it felt like a referendum on the U.S.-Canada relationship.

Are we witnessing the beginning of new alliances? New tensions? Are geopolitical shifts now playing out in sports?

Canada’s national elections in 2025 could redefine its relationship with the U.S. Meanwhile, the 2026 Winter Olympics will provide the next chapter in this rivalry.

Will this fire burn hotter, or will things cool down?

One thing is certain: in international sports, it’s never just a game.