Canada beat the United States in the 4 Nations Face-off on Thursday. Considering all of the drama between the two countries, that tournament became a big symbolic deal. In one corner, we had Donald Trump taunting Canada about becoming the 51st state.

They might have hoped that the United States and Canada would be the last two teams standing, playing against each other for the championship. They might have hoped that the teams

Canada has beaten the United States after the two countries battled it out on the rink in a championship game that proved to be about more than just ice hockey. The 4 Nations Face Off final ended 3-2 in overtime.

When they played “O Canada” for the second time, there were no American fans left in the arena to boo. Instead, the Canadian team stood at the blue line, arm in arm, player and coach, wearing their championship hats while the maple leaf flag was lowered behind the 4 Nations Face-Off trophy and the national anthem reverberated across

Canada has won five of the previous six best-on-best international tournaments (2002 Salt Lake Olympics, 2004 World Cup of Hockey, 2010 Vancouver Olympics, 2014 Sochi Olympics, 2016 World Cup of Hockey). It has won nine of 13 overall involving NHL players going back to the 1976 Canada Cup.