Penalty box

The Canadian women's hockey team provided a much-needed boost to the home country's morale on Thursday when they beat the United States 2-0 to win their third straight Olympic gold at the Vancouver games.

Following the game, members of the team accepted their gold medals and mouthed the words to "Oh, Canada" as it played during the awards ceremony.

But then ...

We'll let The Associated Press pick it up.

"Players came back onto the ice more than half an hour after the 2-0 victory ... . Still in their uniforms and with gold medals draped around their necks, they swigged from bottles of champagne and cans of beer and smoked cigars."

When notified of the celebration, Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director of the Olympic Games, was disturbed. "If that's the case, that is not good," he said. "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. We will investigate what happened."

Investigate? Oh, please! Lighten up, you weenie.

Aren't there enough serious issues in the world that we don't need to manufacture pious outrage over a group of young women celebrating the pinnacle of their lives by sipping a Molson or puffing a stogie during a spontaneous and joyful outburst?

And another giant yawn to the fact that one of the players seen with a beer in her hand is one month shy of her 19th birthday, the legal drinking age in British Columbia. A minor drinking in Canada? Alert the media.

"In terms of the actual celebration, it's not exactly something uncommon in Canada," said Steve Keough, a spokesman for the Canadian Olympic Committee.

Don't be defensive, Mr. Keough. There was nothing wrong with the celebration. Stand up to the politically correct whiners and tell them to get a life.

Congratulations to the Canadian women's hockey team. America lifts a cold one to you.