Auston Matthews, as an American-born hockey star and face of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ franchise, is in a weird place. To say the least.
The 2016 No. 1 overall draft pick is a big reason there’s unlimited optimism in hockey-crazed Toronto over the future of the Leafs’ organization. For the first time in a long time, there’s an actual vision for success, and Matthews clearly is the biggest reason.
But he’s also a good American boy whose patriotism runs deep. Like any red-blooded American hockey fan, Matthews spent Thursday night glued to his seat for one of the best hockey games anyone has seen in a long time. Team USA pulled off the upset, twice coming back from two-goal deficits to beat Canada in a shootout and win the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship in Montreal.
Matthews took to Twitter to celebrate, sending this seemingly innocent emoji-laden tweet.
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
— Auston Matthews (@AM34) January 6, 2017
And then, Leafs fans got mad online.
https://twitter.com/Disgusts/status/817224792453615616
https://twitter.com/alexgraham94/status/817224774292242432
https://twitter.com/Bolieve53/status/817225851334983680
blocked
— Lenny (@lennyismyname) January 6, 2017
ur Canadian and a leaf at heart don't worry
— Stef (@AustnMatthews34) January 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/kieranklassen87/status/817231165585289216
Congrats – you won a Shootout. Not a hockey game. Complete BS way to win gold
— Mortz (@DerrekMortley) January 6, 2017
shut up you play for the leafs
— AJ (@Andreajacobs_5) January 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/Allen6Trevor/status/817228559542579200
https://twitter.com/Johnny_P82/status/817226157288460289
There were plenty more, too, but at some point it’s just piling on, and really, you get the picture. And somewhat ironically, Matthews — who’s only 19 — is still young enough to play in the world juniors, but he’s, you know, playing in the NHL … for a team from Canada.
Of course, this pocket of fans probably represents a small portion of Leafs/Canada fans, and there were a handful of fans congratulating Matthews and joking around about his harmless tweet.
Sports fans, right?
Thumbnail photo via Tom Szczerbowski/USA TODAY Sports Images
