It was a scene few had ever witnessed. As the opening words of “The Star-Spangled Banner” were sung by Elizabeth Irving in Vancouver’s Rogers Arena before a Tuesday night hockey game between the Canucks and the Colorado Avalanche, the crowd erupted in boos. Those boos continued throughout the song, and only abated when she began her rendition of “O Canada.”
On the same night, a similar scene played out as the NBA’s only Canadian franchise — the Toronto Raptors — hosted the New York Knicks.
