Canadian hockey fans conflicted over traveling to U.S. to see their teams in NHL playoffs

By Canadian Press on April 21, 2025.

TORONTO (AP) — Jack Gurevitch is a Montreal Canadiens superfan and a proud Canadian who says he is upset by President Donald Trump’s tariff plans and threats to annex Canada. Still, he says he won’t let the political situation influence whether he travels to U.S. cities to support his team in the playoffs.

Not everyone in his family agrees.

“In anticipation of this call, I shared with my sister my opinion, and she went, ‘Absolutely not. Do not go. Do not go into the United States during this time. It’s not being patriotic. It’s not being a good Canadian,’” Gurevitch told the Canadian Press. “I just kind of disagree with her.”

The latter half of the NHL season saw scattered booing during “The Star-Spangled Banner” at games in Canada amid Trump’s threat of tariffs and his comments about turning its northern neighbor into a 51st state. It has led to resentment and anger, even clouding Wayne Gretzky’s legacy for some fans given his ties to Trump.

Five Canadian teams — Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Edmonton — have made the NHL playoffs this year and the Canadiens opened the postseason Monday night against the Capitals in Washington.

Gurevitch said he often travels to the U.S. to watch hockey or baseball, and while it’s still just the start of the playoffs, he says he may travel south to cheer in person if he’s able.

“I’d love the experience of going into Washington and chatting with the fans there and just building that bond and feeding off it and having pleasant banter. It’s fun. That’s what it’s all about — connecting with people and enjoying the sport,” Gurevitch said.

Sunil Peetush, another Canadiens’ devotee who has already been to the U.S. this year to see games, has been having second thoughts about American travel after his family’s recent cruise that departed New Jersey last month.

“We just didn’t feel right as Canadians. We felt like we were betraying our country,” Peetush said, noting that going to Washington would feel even worse since it is the center of U.S. government. “We have a cruise booked in August and it’s going to Alaska, and we haven’t really decided whether we’re going to do it or not.”

British Columbia Premier David Eby, reacting to a California campaign to re-engage Canadian tourists, said last week that Canadians need to “keep the pressure up” on the U.S. by buying local and avoiding travel there. In Alberta, Edmonton Oilers fan Jasen Reboh says he’s a patriotic Canadian but doesn’t think that would stop him from going to a U.S. game if his team advances.

Reboh, a season-ticket holder who went stateside to watch three of the Oilers’ Stanley Cup matchups against the Florida Panthers last year, rejects the argument that he should avoid the country in order to exert economic pressure.

“There’s a lot of stuff that’s currently happening in our country that I don’t have a lot of control over, so if I was picking and choosing who deserves my money and who doesn’t, I think that’s a slippery slope,” Reboh said.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The Associated Press