Canadian team's celebration raises IOC's ire
The Canadian women's hockey team gets criticized when it wins and now it might catch some heat for its victory celebration.
"Players came back onto the ice more than half an hour after the 2-0 victory over the United States. 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.
"Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director of the Olympic Games, says he was unaware of the incidents until informed by an Associated Press reporter.
"He says drinking in public by athletes at an Olympic venue is 'not what we want to see' and not a good image for sports values."
Given the situation with Scotty Lago getting sent home from the Games for some party pics, it's probably a good idea not to be flippant. It's better to see how this is handled. The IOC is all-powerful in these matters.
The team's celebration was not out of the ordinary for a hockey team that just won a championship.
It's a fairly common ritual in hockey to go back on the ice, after fans have filed out of the arena, take a seat at center ice and drink in the moment with perhaps beer and champagne. For the most part, it's condoned as all part of cutting loose after all the self-sacrifice that goes into winning a championship whether it is boys being boys, or girls being girls. Still, this is the IOC.