For the Gold!

From USA Today:

SOCHI, Russia — And so, the day of reckoning has finally arrived for the United States women's hockey team.

The hours, the days, the months, the years, all of the time spent on the ice, in airplanes, in hotels, in video sessions, preparing for this one magical game.

Team USA vs. Team Canada, noon ET on Thursday. For Olympic gold. Just as it should be.

"We've worked four years for this one moment," said forward Megan Bozek. "We're right where we need to be. There's 60 minutes left for us to achieve our dream."

It's about a half hour to puck drop and the game is on Big NBC (as opposed to CNBC, MSNBC, etc.).   The coffee is brewing as we speak and we're nearly ready to go.

OK, ladies... do your thing!

USA!  USA!!  USA!!! 

Update, 1252 hrs:  BIG-ass sigh.  Bridesmaids, again.  Team USA had a 2-0 lead with two minutes left in the third, Canada tied it up with with less than a minute left, and went on to win in OT with a power play goal.  SO damned close, including a potential empty net goal in the last minute by Team USA that bounced off Canada's goalpost.  Damn.

Well... at least there won't be any beer and cigars at center ice this time.

"Beery gold-medal celebration could get Canada's women's team in trouble."  (That link is mostly photos; story here.)

More than half an hour after they clinched their third consecutive Olympic title, they came back onto the ice. Beer was involved in their festivities.

The International Olympic Committee plans to investigate the matter and whether the players' celebration outside the locker room is harmful to their image and the game's.

Oh, for cryin' out loud. The IOC and its Canadian subsidiary need to get a damned life.  Of COURSE the women were gonna celebrate and of COURSE they were gonna knock back a couple.  As for me?  I wanna party with these girls:

More than half an hour after they beat the United States 2-0 on Thursday, the players came back from the locker room and staged a party on ice — swigging from bottles of champagne, guzzling beer and smoking cigars.

 I wanna party with Gillian Apps. She looks like my kinda gal.

And ride the Zamboni with Colleen!

"Swigging from bottles of champagne" is all well and good, but it's the guzzling beer part that I like.  And driving the Zamboni.  But not at the same time, of course.

That's from a post I put up the last time this happened.