While attempts to amend O Canada have had mixed outcomes it appears it’s just a matter of time till singer Jully Black’s class-conscious culling of the words is accepted. Being generous we here at IDLM thought we’d short-circuit piecemeal attempts to create a throughly Woke version of the anthem that would last till the latest fad come along.

With the Americans winning the first game 3-1, a sense of panic crept over Canada as it headed to Game 2 in Boston. Losing a political battle with Trump was bad enough, but losing hockey bragging rights heading into a federal election was catastrophic for the Family Compact.

The smart play, as Michael Corleone would say, is move fast. Trade McDavid before the start of next season for a boatload of young players to supplement Draisaitl. Take a short-term PR hit but live to compete another day. Remember the re-structured Oilers won a Cup in 1990 using Mark Messier and the players they got for Gretzky. Think about it, Edmonton.

While domestic marketers are playing the Maple Syrup March over the Stanley Cup Final they missed an even better opportunity to marry Canadian patriotism with sport. We speak, of course, of the inevitable crowning of Canadian stars like SGA as champions of the NBA. In fact the entire progress of the postseason in the sneaker league has witnessed great Canadian results. 

Biles has made a secondary career as an object of pity, but took exception when former swimmer Riley Gaines, an opponent of trans men competing against women, sent a picture of softball team that recently won a state title with a transgender pitcher.

The two Florida teams are benefitting from the new sports economics in which players making large, sometimes huge, salaries are choosing to play in one of four states which has no state income tax. The combination of much lower taxes, warm weather and the relative anonymity of being a hockey celebrity in cities that have NFL or NBA teams is proving an advantage in attracting or keeping star players.

The problem for those hating on Caitlin Clark, who’s been everything advertised, is that she has brought attention to their sport, attention they failed to generate themselves despite national TV contracts and the chequebook of the NBA. The latest TV deal increased sixfold as Americans tuned in to see Clark.

We can now safely say that the fate of the nation hockey-wise falls to Alberta. Okay, an Alberta city. Edmonton. With the annual falling of the Leafs (genus Torontonius) and the shocking second-round collapse of the NHL’s  No. 1 team during the season-- Winnipeg— it falls to the Oilers to break the 1993 Stanley Cup schneid for Canadian clubs.

Will there be convictions or will deals be done? In this time where social-media truths are fungible and Woke causes are paramount no one should hazard a guess. But one thing that will get an airing is the charge that hockey created this climate of sexual permissiveness. That will be unfair.

Integral to Trump panic is the role of Canada’s legacy media, a self-serving caste saved from bankruptcy (for now) by generous wads of public money courtesy of the Liberals. They’ve managed to preserve their status while society changed around them. It worked perfectly in Boomer Canada. Until this past week when they finally lost the plot.

So how much do Canadians love the Winnipeg Jets if they sneak in and steal the hero role by winning a first Canadian Stanley Cup since 1993? We may be about to find out.

Rogers dabbled in the brave new world tech briefly in 2013, blanched at the cost of being creative and largely went back to doing hockey the way it had always been done. Taking no risks. If you were expecting dashboard cameras and drone shots you were sadly disappointed. This new contract means more of the same till Bettman retires.

While it’s true that the sun can’t shine on the same team every day, Blue Jays fans across the nation believe it would be nice if the great orb would find their club as it did in 1992/93. Instead of the reflected glory of past stars winning for other teams. Patience is thin. Excuses are many. But time is short.

George Foreman’s rebound story was uniquely American. Where Canadians are enthusiastically damning Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky for political reasons, Foreman never became a captive of angry radicals or corporate America. He went his own way, thumping the bible and his famous grill. It’s unlikely we will see his like again.

It remains to be seen if a Canadian federal election held alongside the NHL playoffs will have any repercussions on the ice. But in the current manic mood of Canadians freaked out by Trump nothing is beyond possibility. 

In geezer news this past week 39-year-old Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals— who suffered a broken fibula in November— is at this writing within nine goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record for  most regular-season goals (894) in a career. Meanwhile, QB Aaron Rodgers is in search of a new perch after the New York Jets told him to scram. With available spots with the Rams, Raiders and Jets off the table, where will he land?

First Orr, now Gretzky. At this rate Canada may run out of hockey gods who decamp to America. And heaven forbid Canadians ask how it is that their stars who have a chance to look at the True North from a different view come away with a new perspective.

Only Game Eight of the 1972 Summit Series can match the explosive political and sports combination of Feb. 16, 2025.  Guesses are now being accepted over just what Canada and Canada’s hockey team’s program might look like by the end of the 2020s. Once certainty— if the game Saturday is any indication fraternal friendship between the U.S. and Canada will be on hold for a while.

When props first began to catch the public interest, they were a novelty. Snobs saw them as sucker bets for squares. In Vegas, books would stage a glitzy launch ten days before the game to announce their props. No more. The first props for SB LIX were out minutes after the conference final games were decided. The brushfire is now a conflagration.

The fate of hockey stars may be only a small piece of any future U.S. trade deals. But they will be very visible to Canada’s hockey fans. Not being able to satisfy them is a political price no politician wants to face. But given the current intransigence by Justin Trudeau scrambling to stay in office it is far from improbable.