Team North America will have both the Canadian and American national anthems played in pre-game ceremonies at the upcoming World Cup of Hockey tournament.
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Despite calls from commentators such as ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith to resign, Tortorella said on Wednesday that he was not “backing off”. At the same time, as the Coach of the team, Tortorella has the right to sit whoever he pleases when they fail to comply with one of his directives. Try to understand me. I’m the furthest thing away from being anything political. “I have no problem”, Jones said. Tortorella is also preparing to begin his first full season coaching the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Tortorella’s son is an Army Ranger and is now deployed. And I am not against expressing yourselves. That’s what is great about our country. We can do that. This is your anthem, this is your flag. All for [expressing] yourself. “You have that right to do that, but to bring that flag and anthem into that, to drag that down, no way”.
The issue with Tortorella was raised a day earlier, when he was asked by ESPN about the stance taken by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who did not stand during the national anthem before an exhibition game in August against the Green Bay Packers. Born in Phoenix, Arizona, and raised in Bathurst, N.B., Couturier has the most National Hockey League games played on Team North America’s roster.
In a follow-up interview with ESPN’s Linda Cohn on Wednesday, Tortorella described what would happen if a player on one of his teams made a decision to boycott the national anthem.
The World Cup of Hockey returns next weekend, marking the first time the NHL-sanctioned worldwide tournament will be held since 2004. Tortorella said the Americans did “extensive” amount of work looking at opposing lineups to make sure they had matchups that will work.”But make no mistake about it”, Tortorella said.
Before practice on Wednesday at Nationwide Arena, a member of the US military addressed the team.
“It is hockey, but I also think it is a huge platform for us to represent our country”, Tortorella told reporters, “especially in today’s world, with everything is going on”.
“Our locker room has discussed it, so we’ll see”, Baldwin said during a press conference on Wednesday. Team USA Head Coach John Tortorella is not buying into the hype and has been crystal clear about what will happen if someone on his bench decides to make headlines with a protest of their own.
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“I would think going in it’s going to be Matt first”, North American GM Peter Chiarelli said. We are going to play our game. “The one thing is they love to compete and be in the action, and you just get goosebumps when they are talking”.
