Canadians Take the Gold (Photo courtesy of The Guardian) 

Okay, so this is completely off the topic from what I usually post in this blog, but I am a proud Canadian, and like all Canadians, I watch when our team is at the gold medal hockey final.  It's kind of like Americans and the Superbowl.  I think it's a Canadian law or something.

Now, I admit that for a good deal of the game I was shaking my head in dismay.  The Americans played a much better game than we did for most of it.  They were much more aggressive and energetic and were just overall handling the puck better.  The Americans almost won the game when, with a minute and fifteen seconds left, Canada pulled the goalie for an extra attacker, and an inexperienced linesman interfered with one of her teammates, freeing up an American shot on goal into an empty net.  Perhaps it was an example of the manifestation of collective Will as thirty percent of Canada's population screamed, "No no NO!" and miraculously, the puck bounced off the post and the goal was averted.  But our ladies tied it up in the last five minutes, and then stole the gold in sudden death overtime!  I would hardly be considered a hockey expert, but I am Canadian, and so you learn about it whether you want to or not, and overall, this was one of the most exciting and tense games I've ever watched.  Here's the link if you want to see it.

What it has to do with my blog is a) I'm Canadian, and b) this is the first time I've seen support for women's hockey that in any way has compared to support for men's hockey.  Picture, if you will, America going as crazy for women's football (Yes, I know baseball is the American national sport, but you guys just don't seem to get as excited about it as you do about football.)  I was late to the bookstore I do readings at because I couldn't leave the sudden death overtime until I knew who won, and the owner of the bookstore just jumped up when I came in to tell her that to demand the score.  Half an hour after the game, my man, who came downtown with me, informed me that there was a guy riding up and down the major throughway on a bicycle with a Canadian flag waving from a hockey stick.  Nobody had to be told what it meant, and the responding honking sounded like a wedding.  Sports bars across the country had hockey parties.  And according to our national network CBC, that game was the most streamed sports event in their history.

The point is, hockey is our sport, and we're finally taking the women as seriously as we do the men.  Even the sports broadcasters were in the right spirit, whether you were watching the Canadian or American broadcasts; delivering scathing criticism and serious commentary in turns.  It makes me happy to know that.  In this time when it seems like the politicians of our respective nations are doing their level best to peel back any progress made in women's rights over the past thirty years, the people have obviously absorbed a more egalitarian view.  There might still be a ways to go, but knowing that gives me hope and makes me proud.

Many of the leaders of the team are retiring this year, after as many as five Olympic games.  That's twenty years of hockey!  A great career for anyone.  At the beginning of the year there was some talk of taking women's hockey out of the Olympics due to lack of competition.  I doubt anyone's saying that now!  And with veteran Hayley Wickenheiser's election to the International Olympic Athlete's Commission, I'm sure the future of women's hockey is safe for now.  Vive le sport!

Canada Celebrates