The White House posted an image of an eagle attacking a goose after the Americans defeated the Canadians, 2-1, in overtime during the men's ice hockey final at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, which brought to mind the two sides' previous competition in the game and two countries' clash over US side's so-called "51st state" claim, and sparked heated discussions among netizens.

The image, which retweeted a X post one year ago by former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, shows a bald eagle, the US national symbol, standing on the ice, aggressively pinning down or stepping on a Canada goose, the country's symbolic bird. The eagle spreads its wings in a dominant pose while the goose appears subdued, which was interpreted by some netizens to symbolize the US "conquering" Canada in the hockey matchup.

According to the FOX News, this victory marked the US men's hockey team's first Olympic gold medal since the legendary "Miracle on Ice" squad achieved it in 1980. US President Donald Trump placed a congratulatory video call to members of the US Olympic men's hockey team after their gold medal win over Canada in Milan on Sunday, The New York Times reported.

The NYT report also noted that in February 2025, Trump addressed many of the same players before the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game — also against Canada, which coincided with a period of time when he publicly discussed the idea of adding Canada as the "51st state."

The report described that rhetoric, in part, turned the 4 Nations tournament into "a stark example of the intersection of sports and politics," with the US national anthem getting booed before games at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

The White House this time posted the image by retweeting a post by Justin Trudeau in February 2025 after Canada defeated the US in the 4 Nations final — a post seen as responding to Trump's contemporaneous "51st state" remarks at that time — in which Trudeau wrote: "You can't take our country — and you can't take our game."

On the Canadian side, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney posted a congratulatory message to the Canadian team for its "well-earned silver" on Sunday but did not refer to the US team or Trump.

Online discussions of the White House post appeared far more heated with both criticism and support from netizens.

Criticism came from figures including former ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann, who slammed the White House, writing on X: "Trump's Trash White House always acts as if it's never been there before." Some other users also expressed dissatisfaction, posting comments such as, "I suppose this account was serious, but I see only memes."

On supporting side, one netizen @Gamma_Monkey, mocked: "Canada would have a gold medal right now if they had become the 51st state." Another user, @KCPayTreeIt, posted an AI-generated image depicting a bald eagle drinking from a cup labeled "Canadian Tears."

As The New York Times described, the US side turned the event into "a stark example of the intersection of sports and politics," with some netizens' comments going beyond the game's outcome. @Tweet4AnnaNAFO remarked: "Canada isn't a military superpower. But Carney stood up to Trump - and called on others to do the same. That's strength."

On Chinese platform Xiaohongshu, known in English as RedNote, some users also took note of the incident, with several expressing disbelief that such an image could have been posted by the White House.

Interestingly, a user claiming to be a wildlife photographer, NathanPhotography, noted in a RedNote post that in reality, a bald eagle successfully preying on an adult Canada goose is quite rare. Adult Canada geese are similar in size to bald eagles, so the success rate for such hunts is extremely low. Bald eagles naturally prefer easier targets like fish or smaller waterfowl.

"In actual situations, bald eagles and Canada geese may chase each other away, but most of the time they don't have much direct interaction," the post added.