![\"Wayne](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/85b47d0483581006a181759361a0eae5.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nWayne Gretzky is on hand for the men’s gold medal game between the United States and Canada on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Who is he rooting for?<\/p>\n
You would think that it would be obvious that Gretzky, the Chosen One, would be rooting for Canada. Gretzky was born and raised in Canada. He’s widely considered the greatest hockey player of all-time. But in recent years, Gretzky has been friendly with President Trump, who has threatened Canada and suggested that it could become America’s 51st state.<\/p>\n
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Gretzky was asked who he’ll be rooting for on Sunday. He’s making it clear he’s rooting for Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a hockey player. I\u2019m a Canadian, a true Canadian. I want Canada \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 to win a gold medal. I\u2019ve never wavered from that. I\u2019ve been friends with prime minsters and presidents. Somehow there\u2019s been a little bit more tension than normal. At the end of the day, Canada and the US are like brothers and sisters, they\u2019re gonna fight and argue but eventually they\u2019ll come together. That\u2019s the way I see it,” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wayne Gretzky on air.CBC.<\/p>\n
(CBC.)<\/p>\n
Gretzky has faced criticism for his friendship and relationship with President Trump, amid the ongoing U.S.-Canada tensions.<\/p>\n
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But while Gretzky has faced criticism, he hasn’t backed down.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are going to say and believe what they want,\u201d Gretzky said on an episode of the \u201c100% Hockey\u201d podcast co-hosted by Darren Millard and John Shannon. \u201cThe bottom line is, I know in my heart I\u2019m Canadian, I\u2019ve stayed Canadian and I\u2019m a Canadian for life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gretzky has been booed by some Canadians, which he’s glad his late father hasn’t been around to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to take the good with the bad,\u201d Gretzky said. \u201cI\u2019m glad he didn\u2019t have to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Gretzky claims he’s not really into politics<\/p>\n
While Gretzky has been friendly with President Trump, he claims he’s not really into politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Canadian,\u201d Gretzky said. \u201cI can\u2019t vote in the U.S. because I live in the U.S. and I\u2019m Canadian. I can\u2019t vote in Canada because I don\u2019t live in Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not into politics. And so I can\u2019t stop the prime minister from saying something. I can\u2019t stop the president from saying something. I just kind of like, well, I\u2019m just a hockey player, simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do you buy it, though?<\/p>\n
This story was originally published by The Spun<\/a> on Feb 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the Olympics<\/a> section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wayne Gretzky is on hand for the men’s gold medal game between the United States and Canada on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[19,5,2525,4,9597,279],"class_list":{"0":"post-467898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-hockey-player","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-president-trump","13":"tag-wayne-gretzky"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116118950554472473","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}