United States and Canada set for politically-charged gold medal clash

Tage Thompson helped the United States reach the Olympic men’s ice hockey final (Carolyn Kaster/PA)

Canada and the United States will face off in a politically-charged Olympic men’s ice hockey final on Sunday after successfully negotiating semi-finals against Finland and Slovakia respectively.

US president Donald Trump is reported in some quarters to be considering jetting in for the fixture, and potentially making a fleeting appearance at Sunday’s closing ceremony in Verona.

The match will come at a time of heightened tension between the two nations over tariff rows and president Trump’s repeated assertions that he would like to make Canada the US’s 51st state.

Canada needed a last-gasp powerplay goal to edge past Finland (Hassan Ammar/AP)

It will be the first gold medal match between the two countries since Canada beat the United States on home ice in Vancouver in 2010. NHL players have returned to the Games for the first time since 2014.

Canada almost blew their chance, falling 2-0 behind against defending champions Finland before rallying to level, then going through when Nathan MacKinnon scored a powerplay goal with 36 seconds left on the clock.

Canada completed their win without star man Sidney Crosby, who was ruled with a lower body injury. However, Canada coach Jon Cooper suggested Crosby will be back in time for the final.

Dylan Larkin gave the United States an early lead against Slovakia (Petr David Josek/AP)

“We have 48 hours to decide that, but I will tell you he’s got a better chance of playing in the gold medal game than he had playing in tonight’s game,” said Cooper.

The US had no such problems against the Slovaks, easing to a 6-2 win, helped by an impressive first period in which Dylan Larkin opened the scoring with just over four minutes on the clock, and Tage Thompson adding a second just before the break.

Vice president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio attended the United States’ opening match against the Czech Republic. Vance was subsequently booed when his face appeared on a giant screen at the opening ceremony.