USA Beats Canada (Everytime)
Mike Leitao ~ 04/09/2026
Right now, war is all the news seems to be talking about. Whether it's the ongoing wars between Russia and Ukraine or Israel and Palestine, or new conflicts like those in Mexico, Venezuela, or Iran, war invades all media we see nowadays. But what if we focus on a real rivalry, a real war, a real battle between two nations. Canada vs USA in the world of sports. The two countries have not had many real competitive matches with each other in a while, but it just so happens that the last couple of years have seen USA vs Canada in major sports battles. So the only question is, which country comes out on top? I’ll give you a hint, it's the USA. They dominated Canada in the sports world to the point it feels like China bullies Taiwan. I cannot imagine how embarrassing it must be to be Canadian right now, I would probably just walk out into the woods until a moose killed me. But was it really as embarrassing as it seems for Canada just from looking at the final scores? There is only one way to find out.
4 Nations Face-Off:
We start our journey at the 4 Nations Face-Off that the NHL hosted during the 2024-25 season in place of the allstar game. It had 4 nations, obviously, but we only care about Canada and the USA. The NHL stopped sending players to the Olympics after the 2010 games, so it had been a long time since we have seen the best in the NHL representing their country in games that people actually care about. The hype was real going into the game and both sets of players on Canada and USA leaned heavily into the hype. The game was a hard fought, competitive game that ended with Canada winning 3-2 in overtime crowning themselves as the champions of hockey still. Canadians were very quick to remind the USA that they were still on top and own the sport, but could they prove it again the following year at the Olympics?
2024 and 2025 Stanley Cup Finals:
Before we get to the Olympics, we should take a look at how the Stanley Cup finals went in both 2024 and 2025, since both matchups featured the Florida Panthers, led by American Matthew Tkachuk versus the Edmonton Oilers, led by Canadian Connor McDavid. Although each team had Canadians and Americans on it making it not a simple matchup between Americans and Canadians, it still felt like a huge matchup for Americans and Canadians alike. Both matchups ended the same way though, with the Florida Panthers as the Stanley Cup Champions. As Canadians were quick to point out there were plenty of Canadians on the Florida Panthers so it doesn't really count for the USA vs Canada rivalry. To that I say, fuck that. The Florida Panthers are so anti Canada, a hockey team located in Miami that struggled to ever fill the stadium because no one in Florida cared about hockey until their team was good. Them beating the Oilers hurt every Canadian in 2024, and then to double down and beat their asses again must of been absolute torture for Canadians.
2025 MLB World Series:
Similar to the Stanley Cup, we have another major league championship match between a Canadian team and an American team. The superteam Dodgers took on the underdog Blue Jays. Unlike most of these matchups, a lot of Americans were rooting for the Blue Jays to win since many people think the Dodgers ridiculous spending along with their bending of the salary cap through deferred money is awful for baseball and could very well lead to the lockout very soon, but at the end of the day it is still a matchup between a Canadian team and an American team so it counts for our list. The Blue Jays gave the Dodgers a real run for their money and looked like they might do the impossible and knock off the champs, but alas it was not enough and the Dodgers walked away as the champions of the MLB again. This one feels like it only half counts since most of America wanted the Blue Jays to win, but a half win is still better than a half loss like Canada took. As we head into the Olympics, Canada has had basically no success in the sports world compared to America, but the Winter Games are supposed to be a spot for them to succeed and help catch back up to pass America. The question becomes, will they be able to sweep the Olympic Games to catch up to the Americans or will the Americans extend their already huge lead on the Canadians.
Women’s Olympic Hockey:
The first Olympic finals between Canada and USA was the Women’s Hockey Gold Medal game. America was dominant throughout the entire tournament, barely allowing any goals and steamrolling their way to the finals. Canada had a tougher time getting there, but there was no real doubt in any other potential finals matchup, and even though USA looked dominant when they met in the round robin play earlier, everyone knew the gold medal game would be a closer contested contest. The matchup was intense, but honestly it always felt like it was the USA’s game to lose compared to Canada’s game to win. Even though the game went to overtime, the USA was pretty damn good this game and after dekeing a defender out of their jock strap and going 5 hole on the goalie, USA beat Canada in hockey for the gold medal. A gold medal at the Olympics is 100% more valuable than some in-season tournament, so even though we aren't placing different values on the different events, let it be known that this one event would be enough alone to beat Canada’s win from the 4 Nations.
Men’s Olympic Hockey:
Just a few days after the women won gold, it was the men’s turn to try and win a gold over Canada. Unlike the women’s game, this was a real toss up with more people choosing the Canadians over the Americans. The game was absolute domination by Canada, with them heavily outshooting the Americans. Add in the fact that in net for the Americans was known big game choker Connor Hellebuyck, most would assume the Canadians must have won the game by multiple goals. But for once in his career, he decided to be clutch in a huge important game and made save after save to help the Americans into an overtime for the gold medal. Jack Hughes became an American hero as he scored the overtime winner to mirror the Women’s game, with the USA taking a 2-1 win over the Canadians to win a gold medal and deny them another chance at getting one over the Americans. The regular Olympics ended with a sweep for the Americans, but those weren’t the only Olympics played this year.
Sled Hockey Paralympics:
The Paralympics took place a few weeks after the Olympics ended, and the sled hockey team was looking for some intense history. A win for the USA sled hockey team would result in them winning their 5th consecutive gold medal at the Paralympics. To keep this piece brief, the USA dominated the competition en route to the gold medal game, then dominated Canada in the gold medal game to complete history and leave with their 5th consecutive gold. At the 2026 Olympics, all of Canada tied them as they only finished with 5 goals, further proof of true American dominance.
World Baseball Classic Quarterfinals:
It seemed after the Paralympics, there would be no more Canada vs USA until the 2026 Stanley Cup Finals at the earliest, but the crazy world of sports had to throw us a curveball (get it, curveball and we are talking about baseball, great pun) right at the end. The World Baseball Classic somehow ended up with a quarterfinal matchup of Canada vs USA. Team USA opened up pretty dominant jumping out to a 5-0 lead, and although Canada scored some runs to make it seem closer in the end, the USA just couldn't stop beating Canada as they added another notch over their northern rivals in another sport.
So as we count the final score, Canada won 1 game and the USA won 7 games, meaning USA absolutely dominates Canada to no one's surprise. It must suck to be a Canadian, sure you probably don’t expect to win in baseball and you can argue the Stanley Cup Finals do not count, but the absolute truth is that Canada needed to play better at the Olympics, but they let their country down and for that, they should know they are failures in the eyes of both Canadians and Americans.
