Thousands of US hockey fans sing Canadian anthem amid tensions between neighbor countries

The Electric City. Nickle City. Queen City. City of No Illusions. Buffalo, New York , has accrued many nicknames over the years, but in an age of growing tensions between two traditional allies, one such epithet has taken on extra resonance: the City of Good Neighbors. Buffalo, which sits at the head of the Niagara River, has cultivated a reputation for its small-town feel and welcoming atmosphere, especially to visitors crossing the border from Canada . This week, ahead of a key ice hockey match between two US teams, singer Cami Clune began what has been a tradition for more than half a century: a rendition of the Canadian national anthem. The Buffalo Sabres are an outlier in the National Hockey league as the only team to celebrate their northern neighbours – even when a matchup is between two US-based teams. But as Clune began with the opening refrain, her microphone malfunctioned and her voice cut out. A crowd of nearly 20,000 filled the silence . The vast majority were American – and knew all the words. As the anthem progressed, the crowd grew louder with cheers. “Well that was interesting!!” Clune wrote on social media afterward. “Thank you all for singing along with me. We have the best fans ever!” The warm gesture comes amid an increasingly bitter rupture between the two nations that has persisted for more than a year. Last year, a largely Canadian crowd booed the US national anthem during an international tournament hosted in Montréal . …