When a beer is just a beer.

Everyone needs to relax. Actually I think everyone needs a beer. Chill out, guys. I'm serious.

So the gold medal champions in Olympic women's hockey had a beer. WOOPdeEFFINdo.

One of the last things I saw before I went to bed last night was a twitter post from Greg Wyshynski, the editor of Puck Daddy hockey blog. "Marie-Philip Poulin, with Olympic gold and a Molson. Canadian bliss" (Accompanying the tweet was the the photo you see at the top of this blog post). 


I had a laugh and thought, 'well deserved, ladies'.

That tweet was followed up by "Hope all this 'Marie-Philip Poulin is underage!!!' stuff is in good fun. Otherwise, our world's been taken over by Debby Downers & Killjoys" 

I didn't think much would come of the underage stuff, but then CTVOlympics.ca reports that "Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director of the Olympic Games, said he wasn't aware of the celebration until informed by a reporter with The Associated Press"


Who is this douchebag reporter from AP who felt it necessary to be the Debby Downer? Haven't you given a glass of wine or champagne to your teenager at special events? She won a freaking gold medal... she scored the only two goals in the game. Let her have a freaking beer. I mean it wasn't even good beer. It was a Molson. 


But instead the IOC has to be all fatherly.

"If that's the case, that is not good," said Felli about the celebration. "It is not what we want to see. I don't think it's a good promotion of sport values. If they celebrate in the changing room, that's one thing, but not in public."

Hmm... okay.

What's the difference between what the girls did, and skeleton gold medalist Jon Montgomery chugging a pitcher of beer in front of a big crowd in Whistler on national television? I believe an open-liqour-in-public fine in Vancouver runs around $230. Beer chugging... sport values... right. But none of us cared, we all thought it was awesome and fun. Why? What's the difference? Why are people outraged about what the women did?

Is IOC members flying first class around the world, being wined dined and bribed a good promotion of sports values? Just sayin'.

Here's another one to chew on.

What's the difference between the girls having a beer on the ice after everyone's left. And the fans getting absolutely trashed in the stands? Did I mention that all the fans were gone?

Annnnd.

 Ironically this is a photo by the Associated Press.

Consistantly media are allowed in the dressing room after a big win. Stanley Cup, Super Bowl, World Series... shall I go on? When have you not seen shots of players popping champagne. What's the difference there?

These athletes are people. People drink. To say that because they are athletes means they should not drink is ludicrous.

This 'controversy' if you can call it that... is ridiculous! They had a beer. End of story.

Jennifer Casey was born and raised in Halifax. She loves all sports but tries to stick to writing about hockey for sanity purposes. You can follow her on twitter @jenncaseyhfx

A mercy rule is not the answer.

Every Olympics we have this discussion.

And every year people miss the mark.

I'm talking about women's hockey. Specifically when a powerhouse like Canada plays a hapless Slovakia and thumps them 18-0.

At the daily IOC-VANOC briefing, officials were asked if there should be a mercy rule in women's hockey.

"Clearly if you're on the losing side of a hiding, it's never much fun. But I'm sure they had a great experience and I'm sure they're thankful to be Olympians," said IOC director of communications Mark Adams.

"You know these things happen in all sports, at all levels. They're a good team but clearly yesterday Canada were the better team by a long way."

Then there was 2006.

Canada handed the host Italians a 16-0 beating in the opening game of the Turin Olympics.

"I'm upset that Canada has been running up the score, especially against the host nation," said Team USA defenseman Angela Ruggiero.

"There was no need for that. They're trying to pad their stats... Canada is running up the score for whatever reasons -- personal, short-term."

People are missing the boat here. It's not about padding stats. I don't think Haley Wickenheiser, the most prolific scorer in women's hockey, needs to pad her stats.

It's also not about mercy. I'm sure Canada would like to let up after they were certain their lead was sufficient.

But here's the problem. In international hockey, if there's two identical records in the standings, the tie-breakers are done by goal-differential.

So if Canada and USA both go undefeated through the tournament, and meet in the final. The home ice advantage is awarded to the team with the most goals scored.

That doesn't exactly breed mercy. In international play you can't control what other teams will do, so you don't want to leave anything to chance.

And this is nothing new, take the 2010 World Juniors. Latvia lost 16-0 to Canada and 12-1 to the USA.

There doesn't need to be a mercy rule -- using goals-scored as the tie breaker needs to be removed. There would still be blowouts, but I'm sure the scores would lower a bit.

Jennifer Casey was born and raised in Halifax. She loves all sports but tries to stick to writing about hockey for sanity purposes. You can follow her on twitter @jenncaseyhfx

It's almost here!

NHL 2009 has been shipped to retailers! Electronic Arts released today that the games for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are on their way to retailers. They will be available for sale Thursday (Sept 11).

What makes this game better than before? Well, i'll tell you! (did you expect anything else?). To celebrate the Montreal Canadiens 100th season, they have compiled the Habs dream team. Yes, my friends, that means 21 of the best players in Candiens history. Yes, my friends, that also means Maurice Richard is going to be flying down the ice helmet-less with numereux neuf on his back.



Remember the 2006 Olympics in Torino when an outspoken member of the United States women's hockey team (*cough cough* Angela Ruggiero *cough cough*) complained that Canada was being unsportsmanlike by running up a 16-0 score on the host team, Italy?

Remember how it sparked a debate over embarrasing a team? In the end Team Canada's defense was that home-ice advantage in the final is determined by goal differential and they needed to take the goals when they came. How could Canada know that the Team USA was going to choke and bow out in the Semi-Final?

Anyway I'm just setting the scene for this next story... Because if 16-0 sparked a bit of a debate... what will this do?

2008-09-09 15:40:00

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia - With more goals than minutes in the game, Slovakia's women's ice hockey team claimed an amazing 82-0 victory over Bulgaria in Olympic qualifying.

Slovakia outshot the Bulgarians 139-0 during the 60-minute game, played in Latvia. The margin of victory is a record for a women's International Ice Hockey Federation-sanctioned event.

"We took it as training," Slovakia coach Miroslav Karafiat said after Saturday's game.

Janka Culikova led Slovakia with 10 goals, while Martina Velickova scored nine. Fourteen different players scored at least one goal.

Slovakia, which also beat Croatia, Latvia and Italy, advanced to another qualifying group with Germany, Kazakhstan and France. The winner will secure a spot at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Bulgaria was eliminated after scoring one goal and conceding 192 in the tournament.

The Slovakian men's team clinched its biggest ever victory against the Bulgarians 14 years ago when they won 20-0.