Even the friendliest of international relations don’t extend to sports rivalries. Sports are serious business.
Exhibit A: The events of Thursday afternoon.
After U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks to the White House on Thursday, he joked that he’d like to hold on to the Cup so it could be present when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau visit D.C. on March 10. Because, you know, bragging rights.
“It is always fun to have the Stanley Cup here,” Obama said, via Global News. “By the way, we’ve got a state dinner with Canada coming up, so we might just leave it right in the middle of the room – to gloat a little bit.”
Well, Prime Minister Trudeau took that as an invitation to remind President Obama just what country has dominated his of late on the international ice hockey scene.
That would be the 2002 gold medal from Canada’s 5-2 win over the U.S. in Salt Lake City and the 2010 gold medal from Canada’s 3-2 win over the U.S. in Vancouver.
There was also Canada’s 1-0 defeat of the U.S. in the semifinals of the 2014 Sochi Olympics that Trudeau didn’t mention. But also…