Trump creates controversy heading into Canada vs USA tonight

According to USA Hockey, U.S. President Donald Trump has called members of Team USA to wish them good luck in tonight's 4 Nations Final against Canada.

While we don't have audio or transcript of the call, I can only imagine that it was a rambling mess with a personal anecdote to boost his ego. Again... I don't have proof of this, but I just have a hunch that ol' Donny can't pass up an opportunity to butter himself up.

We do know that Trump did make references to making Canada the '51st state' to the players today though. Kudos to GM Bill Guerin though for deflecting things a bit:

JT Miller and Zach Werenski with some insight on the call today:

Trump also issued a statement on why he cannot attend tonight's 4 Nations Final between Canada and U.S.A. He also took a moment to insult Canada once again, using his '51st State' rhetoric that he's been spouting for over a month now at this point.

The disrespect on the international stage for your country's biggest and longest serving ally is sickening. As a red blood Canadian, I'm not angry... I'm more disappointed that my American friends and neighbors have to endure having a leader with such a childish view of the world.

Grow up, Mr. President. Canada will never give up its sovereignty and to even joke about the matter is frankly, stupid.

Having said all that, let's drop the puck on this game so we can turn our focus where it belongs: The ice.

Read below for our earlier reports on Trump, published by Hockey Feed staff writer Chris Gosselin yesterday.

Hold the phone. It sounds like President Donald Trump is turning down the invitation to attend the 4 nations tournament finale between Team Canada and Team USA.

Days leading to Thursday’s final, American general manager Bill Guerin spoke about the idea of having President Donald Trump attend the game at TD Garden in Boston. Earlier today, reports emerged that Trump would attend, when Darren Dreger stated:

‘It is expected that President Trump will make his way to Boston, he may be there already, and he will be at that game, that’s the expectation, that’s what I was told likely yesterday.’

However, this just in from insider Frank Seravalli: President Trump is not planning on attending Thursday’s USA vs. Canada 4-nations’ championship game in Boston, per sources.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau was in attendance for Canada’s first meeting with Team USA this past weekend at the Bell Center in Montreal.

President Trump has been attending several sports events since he was inaugurated as he was in the stands for the Super Bowl and also the Daytona 500 over the weekend.

However, he will not be in the stands tomorrow night for the best hockey game ever played.