Canada hockey legend Wayne Gretzky was already facing a strained relationship with the Canadian public when he emerged from the tunnel at last week’s 4 Nations Face-Off final against the United States in Boston.
But that strain reached a full-on breaking point on Thursday night when Gretzky gave an eager thumbs-up to the US players and wore no Canadian colors to the final game between the two countries at the inaugural tournament, where Gretzky was the honorary team captain for Canada.
Gretzky’s perceived disloyalty to a home country where hockey is the national religion might have caused an uproar among many Canadians even in the sunniest of weather. But his actions were interpreted by many as traitorous at a time of heightened nationalism amid Donald Trump’s threats of a trade war in addition to the US president’s musings on making Canada the 51st state.
Related: Canada defeat USA in 4 Nations Face-Off final amid geopolitical tensions – in pictures
Gretzky, who for decades has been propped up as a symbolic embodiment of Canadian identity, might have torpedoed his once-bulletproof image by fraternizing with Trump at the worst time imaginable, several analysts tell the Guardian. Regardless of Gretzky’s reputation, they say, it’s proof many Canadians at this crucial juncture could be looking for their sports heroes to take a stronger stance on Trump.
“Observers of Canadian hockey look at Wayne Gretzky as essentially an immortal, a god, right? But the truth is, his relationship to the Canadian hockey public has been very different then say it was in 2002,” says Taylor McKee, an assistant professor of sports management at Brock University in St Catharines, Ontario.
In 2002, Gretzky was the executive director of Canada’s Olympic hockey team in Salt Lake City that went on to win a gold medal. There he was considered “Mr Canada,” says McKee.
Canadians who want that version of him to emerge at a time when there are external threats to the country, were left disappointed by Gretzky, he says.
“They wanted a guy who was willing to stand up there and take bullets for the team,” he says. “Instead, they got the guy they saw essentially as a saboteur, or certainly someone they couldn’t trust.”
As Trump has insisted he will levy a 25% tariff on goods from Canada, set to be implemented next week. There have also been threats to annex the country and rumors of Gretzky as a possible prime minister. All of it fueled the tensions that ran high in the crowd at Thursday’s game at Boston’s TD Garden.
Canadian singer Chantal Kreviazuk sang O Canada amid a smattering of boos from the Americans in the crowd. The Canadian crowd in Montreal had previously loudly booed the US national anthem at their 4 Nations game against Finland on 13 Febuary.
At the final, Kreviazuk also changed the lyrics of the anthem from “in all of us command” to “that only us command” as a response to Trump’s annexation threats.
Canada’s sudden-death overtime win in the final on Thursday, which became symbolic of the geopolitical figh, led to huge celebrations in cities and towns across the country in a way that was previously unexpected when the tournament was planned, says McKee.
To fans, the game itself became important in the way not seen since the 1972 Summit Series, he explained.
That all heightened Gretzky’s blunder through this moment.
“I’m not surprised people are so angry about it,” says Aaron Ettinger, an associate professor at Carleton University in Ottawa who specializes in international relations and sports. “It’s the combination of the immediacy of the Trump problem and the slow, long-term erosion of the love affair with Wayne Gretzky over the last 25 years,” he says.
Gretzky’s coaching stint with the Phoenix Coyotes in the mid-2000s was considered a failure and his political affiliations with then-prime minister Stephen Harper in 2015 ended up latching him to a sinking ship as Harper lost the election – which may have impacted his image, says Ettinger. Then, continued affiliation with the US (where he’s been a longtime resident) rather than Canada has been a contribution to some souring on him over the years.
Grant Prete, an 31-year-old Edmonton resident and hockey fan, says it’s Gretzky’s previous actions that led him to question the so-called Great One – but Trump’s threats toward Canada and the former hockey star’s continued affiliation with the president were the final straw.
Gretzky has visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago Florida residence on several occasions and attended the inauguration last month.
Last week, Prete launched a petition to remove Gretzky’s name from a highway in the city where he shot to stardom on the Edmonton Oilers. It’s received over 9,000 signatures and counting.
“Gretzky has been silent on his entire stance with the annexation part of Trump’s political platform. … He’s just known to be very close and affiliated to Donald Trump,” says Prete. “I feel like it reaches a point where his silence on this topic becomes a response in itself.
Prete says he was already upset with Gretzky – for not making the effort to receive his promotion to Companion of the Order of Canada that was issued in 2009. But it hasn’t been an easy decision for him to create the petition. he said particularly older friends of his have been upset at his perceived indictment of Gretzky.
The generation gap is likely a factor with the current backlash, as people who are not middle-aged or older may not have the same emotional connection with him, says Peter Donnelly, a professor emeritus of sports policy and politics at the University of Toronto.
Gretzky played 20 seasons in the NHL from 1979 to 1999.
“Gretzky’s absence in Canada means that his fame and face value in Canada has an age limit. Few children know who you are talking about, and it’s difficult even to use him as an example with students, without adding an explanation,” he says.
Alex Ovechkin is a mere 13 goals away from breaking Gretzky’s all-time NHL goalscoring record of 894 ,indicating that even some of his achievements could be displaced by others, says Donnelly.
But it’s important to understand the Gretzky backlash is not tied to a political awakening for hockey in Canada, says Courtney Szto, an associate professor at Queen’s University in Kington, Ontario who specializes in sports and injustice.
Hockey players are not typically asked to reveal political affiliations, and that’s still the case. The anger toward Gretzky’s association with Trump is about threats to Canadian national identity – not about other human rights issues under the Trump administration, she says.
“It’s more this notion of becoming the 51st state … not the deportation of immigrants. Our politics are not that different [from the US], it’s really just a fight about nationalism and loyalty.”
When it comes to Gretzky’s future though, Ettinger says the reaction from Canadians in the last week has really showcased that his time in the spotlight is up.
“I can envision a situation where Ovechkin breaks the record, everybody gives Wayne Gretzky … a standing ovation, we say thank you for all the memories and then we go our separate ways,” he says.
