Its a great day to be Canadian.

[BadCompany]

I'm tired, my eyes are bloodshot, my head really hurts and my tongue feels like some racoons got a hold of it and decided to use it to wash some fish.

God its good to be Canadian!  

I've been reading a lot of internet boards over the last few days, and its been kind of saddening. Not the vitriolic spewing of insults and name calling - that was kind of expected - but the lack of understanding by non-Canadians, sort of disturbed me. Its very hard for anyone who is not Canadian to really understand what happened yesterday, and its even harder for Canadians to explain it. And thats kind of sad, because nobody else in the world really understand us as a nation, or as a people.

I was watching a game a few years back, one of those World Junior Championship games, with a girl I was seeing at the time. It was a gold medal game, full of the emotion and intensity gold medal games always have. As usual, when the game ended, when a winner and a loser had been decided, pandemonium broke lose. The camera zoomed in on one player, 18 years old, full of the spit and vinegar most 18 year old boys have, cocky, arrogant, your typical teenager who has figured out the world and his place in it. A macho jock, the kind of kid who gets all the girls in high school, the popular kid average kids wish they were. You know the type. There he stood, wild celebrations taking place all around him, flags waving in the stands, the crowd going nuts, players piling onto one another, screaming and shouting. You could see the emotion in this kid's face, the magnitude of what had just happened finally hitting him, and this tough, rugged, teenager, a kid who would ordinarily scoff at the thought of showing any emotion in public other than pure, testosterone driven manliness, wept openly, tears streaming down his face in front of his teamates, his friends, his mother and father and girlfriend, in front of thousands of people in the arena and millions more watching on TV. I turned to my girlfriend and said "I would give 30 years of my life to be that kid." She stared back at me, in amazement, knowing what I said to be true.

That kid was on the losing team.

Not many people understand that, and I know I can't explain it. But that's the way it is. Hockey is not something we do, it is who we are, strange as that may sound. My parents enrolled me in my first organized hockey league when I was three years old. That's league, with uniforms and coaches and real games. Three years old. I still have those skates, and they hang proudly on my wall. Its not just a game for us, and if we seem touchy and edgy and angry when others suggest that Canada is no longer the best in hockey, its because you are insulting us, not the game. We are the game. The game is us. If you say that Canada isn't that good in hockey anymore, then you are saying that you, BadCompany, are not that good in hockey, and by extension, in life. Spiro, HabsAddict, Habaroni and Cheese, Disgruntled - this is all personal for us, these are personal insults you are throwing, and like most people, if you insult them personally, they will react with an anger far more disproportionate to the original slight. I don't expect many people to understand that sort of reasoning - I don't really understand it myself, but thats the way it is.

So I hope no offence was taken by non-Canadians, for none was really intended. We are a crazy people at times like this, and as usual, when you face a crazy person, reasoning with them generally won't get you anywhere. We are thinking on two different levels. Its best to either just ignore us, treat us with love and affection and hope the malady passes, or just avoid us all together.

As you would do with any other crazy person you would meet on the street.

Having said that, CANADA ROCKS!!!  ;D ;D ;D

[Cranky]

well said



pass the kleneex

[clear observer]

*listening to Simon and Garfunkle's "What a Wonderful World"*

Yes, a new day began for me at 7 a.m. this morning. My 3yr old daughter with her dolly ("baby") in hand announcing that my "breakie" was ready and proudly announcing that she had slept another night ( 5 consecutive ) without wetting her bed. With my head pounding, throbbing, the echoing of my son's exclamatories of today's x-box release of "UFC-Tap Out", I found the normally wonderful smell of bacon that filled the air as we approached the kitchen hand-in-hand, suddenly, over-rated, to say the least.  <br>
As the breakfast ritual was coming to an end, son and daughter reminding me of their promised post-"breakie" wagon-ride, my wife re-counted my missed Sunday phone messages. There were twenty-two. I can only recall two; my mother's and my sister's. She went on to establish both mine and her day's itinerary, "Don't forget the lawyer's meeting at 1, Accountant's at 2, Bank, son's school, Dentist, Mall, Gas Company, Bell Canada, "Production Rene" meeting at 4, drop off a package at your mom and dad's...also, you need to drop into Canadian Tire and pick up some more pressure-washer shampoo, I know it's raining but it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow."  Then there's the business-related stuff.

Not much has changed in my household because of the events of the last 14 hours or so. Back to the routine; daddy-hood; husband-hood. Yes, it's raining here in the "Beautiful City" of Belleville, Ontario. But, as many of my Canadian hockey "brothers and sisters" will attest to, it's really a bright, sun-shiny day.

Off to the accountant's office.

Thank you Team Canada,

CO

[MPLABBE]

It's living moments like yesterday's that make me wonder why some people want to break up this great country of ours...


I doubt I have ever felt so much Canadian pride...and it's great ;D

[Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

I couldn't express it anywhere near as eloquently as you did BC. Very well done!

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

To all my Canadian friends I am traitor who went south to become an  American. To my American friends I am the traitor Canadian who stands up and cheers whenever Canada scored rubbing salt in their wounds. I know how the colonists felt when the Americans considered them Benedict Arnolds and the Queen called them Loyalists. Yesterday I was unequivacally proud to be a Canadian. Great game, great hockey, and wonderful result. I suffered through 50 years of club teams, Father Bauer amateur teams, makeshift eliminated pro teams to get to the Gold and it was great. I didn't even mind seeing Pelletier answering the thousands of stupid questions with dignity, grace and intelligence. ;D ;D

[Vichab]

A couple of thoughts on this day to reflect and ask why I (we) get so worked up about this game of ours.

1, I wonder if there is a certain self pride in that somehow we feel responsible in a very small measure for the Canadian success because we played the game as kids and competed and that made everyone better in particular those who went on the "the pros" as we used to call it. Perhaps somewhat self-agrandizing, but I believe being part of the program supports it and makes it strong so that it can achieve greatness which is what we saw yesterday. All of us would have loved to represent our country in that game yesterday and the players knew the priviledge they were given and the importance to live up to the honour. They were not going to let us down because they know what any Canadian who has played hockey on a team knows and that is hockey is the greatest team sport because you can't win unless you work as a team, trust one another and support one another.

This all leads to my 2nd observation.

2, There were some great stories out of these games: loonies at center ice, 50 years to the day, and supporting friends. The story I will always remember is of Scott Niedemayer looking to his right and seeing Ed Belfour, in his civies and his team jersey on. Ed was last in the receiving line for the gold medals and anxious to get his medal like all the players although not having played one minute. Scott then  changed positions so Scott was last and Ed was not an after thought but in fact part of the team. In true Canadian hockey fashion. The act confirmed the kind of unassuming,sincere, decent and caring gentlemen that play this great Canadian game. The game and the traits we all learned as kids. These guys play hockey better than the rest of us but I'd like to think that each of us in Scott's position would have done the same thing  because WE ARE CANADIAN.

[Andrew]

Very well said BC.  It's hard to explain, but anyone who says it's just a game wasn't in the streets of the dozens of cities, in Canada, in which traffic slowed to a halt as cars honked their horns, and people leaned out windows to cheer.  You could walk into any bar in Canada, and start a rendition of 'Oh Canada' only to be joined enthusiastically by the rest of its patrons.

Looking back at the victories of the men's and women's teams, they were both different.  I was teary eyed at the sight of the women pouring off the bench - as it meant so much to them after the dissapointment of four years ago.  They are true amateurs, having worked so hard to reach their sport's ultimate accolade.  The men, on the other hand, have the Stanley Cup, multi-million dollar contracts, trophies, and scoring titles.  No doubt, the win is still a huge thrill for them, but not as meaningful.  Their victory was one for a whole nation.

Kudos to the States, in both games.  They carried themselves with class and dignity.  I have a whole new level of respct for Jeremy Roenick.  He understands what this means for Canada.  He expressed dissapointment at the loss, but was happy for Canada:  "We would have loved to win, but if we couldn't, there's nobody better to do it, we were playing hockey's creators."  He also mentioned that he was proud to have won a silver medal in a game featuring one of the greatest assemblies of talent ever.  I can only hope that our players would have shown the same class in defeat.  Great to see after the US disgrace in Nagano.