The stakes were further raised amid ongoing political tensions between the U.S. and Canada. In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has promoted the idea that the U.S. will absorb Canada as the “51st state” and called for hockey legend Wayne Gretzky to serve as the Canadian premier. Trump has threatened wide-ranging tariffs on the country and said he would exert “economic force” on the nation in an effort to take over the U.S.’s northern neighbor.

That backdrop has led to the booing of the American national anthem at sporting events throughout Canada in recent weeks, including during the last matchup between USA and Canada in Montreal on Saturday.

Players on both teams — many on the Canadian team play on NHL teams located in the U.S. while some on the American squad play for the league’s Canadian franchises — condemned the booing of the anthem. But the start of Saturday’s game, which the U.S. won 3-1, was marked by three separate fights between U.S. and Canadian players seconds after puck drop.

Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk and J.T. Miller, three of the stars of Team USA, revealed after the game that they had planned for the fights in a group chat ahead of time. Brandon Hagel, a forward on Team Canada who fought Matthew Tkachuck at the start of Saturday’s contest, told reporters Tuesday, “I think we’re out there playing for the flag, not the cameras.”

“That’s a part of Canada that we have in there,” Hagel continued. “We don’t need to initiate anything. We don’t have any group chats going on. We’re going out there playing our game and then giving it everything and doing it for our country. We don’t need to initiate everything. We’re just going to play as hard as we can and do it for the flag on the chest.”

Matthew Tkachuk would hit back Wednesday, saying: “Maybe their team doesn’t like each other if they don’t have group chats.”

Bill Guerin, the general manager of Team USA, told Fox News earlier this week he invited Trump to attend the Thursday contest.

On Thursday, Trump called in to speak with the American players ahead of the championship bout. Earlier, he taunted Canada on his Truth Social platform, saying he would be calling the American team “to spur them on towards victory tonight against Canada, which with FAR LOWER TAXES AND MUCH STRONGER SECURITY, will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished, and very important, Fifty First State.”

“I will be speaking before the Governors tonight in D.C., and will sadly, therefore, be unable to attend. But we will all be watching, and if Governor Trudeau would like to join us, he would be most welcome,” Trump added.

He has in recent months taken to mocking Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor.” The Canadian embassy did not respond to a request for comment.

Trudeau was in attendance for Saturday’s game in Montreal.

Brandon Bochenski, the Republican mayor of Grand Forks, North Dakota who played for six NHL franchises between 2005 and 2010, told NBC News that the political backdrop of Thursday’s game would be sure to have an impact on the players themselves.

“No doubt this has been the best hockey the world has seen in a long time,” Bochenski said ahead of Thursday’s face-off. “The political backdrop will certainly be on the players minds. Hockey players are humble, but extremely proud of where they come from. I would expect an intensity similar to or greater than a Stanley Cup Final Game 7!”