Like all the best sporting events, yesterday’s thrilling men’s gold medal hockey game created an afterglow that is still shimmering today. While I was briefly disappointed the U.S. team didn’t come through—especially after knotting the score with 25 seconds left—I soon felt that the outcome was Canada’s just reward for putting on such a terrific Winter Olympics. The host country should always feel pride and joy at their accomplishment, and Sid the Kid’s goal certainly fueled both emotions from BC to Nova Scotia.

I enjoyed this New York Times account of a Catholic church just a few blocks away from the game. Pacific time, the puck dropped at 12:15pm but the Very Rev. Glenn Dion would not change the time of the 12:30 Mass. He did, however, cut short the 11:00am Mass so that parishioners could get in front of a TV. I liked his comparison of hockey in Canada and religion: “both are ingrained from a young age, passed among generations, studied and practiced reverently and — in the case of the Catholic parish, at least — have a box where sinners sit in penance.”

I also liked his closing prayer/request for the Canadians:

“To be humble when and if they win. And to be gracious if they don’t.”

Tags: Glenn Dion, ice hockey, olympics, Sidney Crosby