Unfortunately, the Canadian women’s hockey team beat the American women last night. But an e-mailer in Vancouver sends a note that makes me feel warm and fuzzy about our neighbors to the north:

The largely hometown crowd in Vancouver shouted “USA” repeatedly after the the silvers were handed out.
I thought that was nice. Too much anti-American is gratuitously broadcast on Canadian television, so I was happy to see this.
I have to admit also being happy with the game’s result, but would have liked to see more scoring (from both sides).

I watched most of the game — i.e., it was on during dinner and the nightly bossing around of the children — and enjoyed the end. I wanted the Americans to win, of course, but I’m a sucker for the conclusion of championship games. I love to watch people celebrate when they’ve just won big victories. The Canadians had just won the biggest game of their lives — a gold-medal game at the Olympics, in front of their fellow citizens — and they were, you know, sort of happy about it.

UPDATE: The IOC says it will “investigate” the way the Canadians celebrated afterward, apparently because it involved beer and cigars. Give me a break.

UPDATE 2: Totally classy, all the way around:

I watched it all the way through last night and that was indeed a touching moment. Here’s video of it.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=8c1ab900-29aa-4e1d-a37e-8df66d1c23fb.html?__source=rss&cid=
Jump to the 10:00 mark and note the additional cheering when Julie Chu recognizes the crowd. After that there is additional cheering whenever any of the other US ladies does the same.
Then at the 14:00 mark, near the end of passing out what they call flowers to the USA women, you can hear the crowd suddenly all start chanting USA USA. It almost gives you goosebumps.
And then of course it’s worth jumping to 22:00 and watching all the Canadian women and the entire crowd singing Oh Canada. That was neat as well. If you watch a football game here, you’re hard-pressed to find a player singing our national anthem.