Running Up The Score --- Oh, Sorry!

Well, it seems that the Canadian Women’s Hockey Team beat home team Italy by the score of 16-0 yesterday. I saw the first few minutes. Canada scored five quick, unanswered goals. I went out. I ran errands. I came back later and saw the replay of the last period. It was 11-0 when the announcers started explaining how it’s not Canada’s fault that the score is lopsided. It’s not Canada’s intention to run up the score or embarrass anyone. No. It’s actually the fault of the United States of America. THEY are scoring goals, so Canada has to score goals in order to secure the home ice advantage in the game where the two teams will meet.

Canadian announcers apologizing to Canadians for Canada running up the score. It takes some getting used to. But you know, even Frank and Gordon quit playing when the score gets to 7.


Today, the women beat Russia 12-0. The announcers got off to an early start apologizing for the lopsided score, again explaining that no one wanted to hurt Russia’s feelings, but that the USA made them do it. This afternoon, an AP headline reads: “Canadians Defend Inflated Hockey Scores” and includes this, from the coach:

"That's definitely not what we're doing. We're just competing," Davidson said, adding that her team's goal is to reach the gold medal game — not humiliate anyone along the way.

"We definitely don't focus on the scoreboard. It's not about what the score is, it's about us moving the puck and making good plays. It's about success as a team. ... It is the Olympics, regardless of the score. These girls have worked hard to be here. I would take things away from our team, our opponents and everybody involved if we didn't compete as hard as we could."

The Canadian and USA women’s hockey teams do not like each other. I don’t really follow hockey and even I know that. The Canadians won a gold medal last time, in Salt Lake City. Hayley Wickenheiser, the team’s leader, appeared on (Canadian) national television claiming that Team USA had stomped on a Canadian flag in the USA dressing room.




USAHockey denied that happened. They certainly didn’t apologize for it.




It’s widely expected that Canada and USA will meet in the final, and compete once again for the gold medal, and has been since four years ago. I don’t know who to cheer for, and didn’t four years ago, either. I just can’t wait to see if anyone is able to run up the score. And if anyone apologizes.

The Story of Canadian Thanksgiving

As Americans ready themselves for a day of Thanksgiving, Canadians find themselves preparing for Christmas. Thanksgiving here was in October, even before Halloween. It takes some getting used to. Canadian Thanksgiving has nothing to do with Pilgrims. Here is the story:

Martin Frobisher and crew first celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving in the eastern Arctic in 1578.

Frobisher was driving his boat around the Arctic in 1576 looking for a northern passage to Asia when he discovered Frobisher Bay (and wasn’t that an incredible coincidence?!?) and some ore he thought might contain gold. Frobisher spent the next couple of years trying to become rich mining what seemed like gold ore, and attempting to establish the first English settlement in North America. He failed on both counts, but did manage to celebrate the first North American Thanksgiving. Pilgrims and turkeys (with the possible exception of Frobisher himself) had nothing to do with it.

Besides The Frobisher Incident, there is some anecdotal evidence that Canadian Thanksgiving also draws on a tradition started by residents of Halifax, Nova Scotia who celebrated the end of the Seven Year’s War in 1763. Frankly, I suspect that said citizens actually appropriated the idea from their relatives in Salem, Massachusetts because Halifax was probably the sort of place where any excuse for a party would have to do. Some Canadians claim that this explains the introduction of pumpkin pie, turkey, squash, and the four-day weekend into the holiday. Others blame the United States of America for … well, for being the United States of America.

Thanksgiving Day is proclaimed as “a day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” Thanksgiving is considered a National Holiday in Canada, rather than a religious one, even though there are no extra “U’s” in Thanksgiving the way there are in Labour Day here, and references to God and blessings notwithstanding.

Since 1957, Thanksgiving has been celebrated by decree of Parliament on the second Monday in October. It used to be earlier, and then for a while it was later. After the current date was proclaimed, E.C. Drury, the former “Farmer-Premier” of Ontario lamented that “the farmers' own holiday has been stolen by the towns” to give them a long weekend when the weather was better. This did not impress anyone apparently, perhaps in part because Drury was also a founder and leader of a political party with the unfortunate acronym UFO.

Finally, Frobisher Bay was renamed Iqaluit (ee-KWAL-eh-weet) where the population for some time was mostly Inuit trying to subsist on fishing, and US Air Force personnel staffing the DEW line. This suggests that modern-day Thanksgiving celebrations occurred at the end of November and involved turkeys and satellite dishes receiving American football.

This week we’ll have some of our Canadian friends over and celebrate an American Thanksgiving with turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, wine, strong coffee, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on the cable station from Seattle. Later there will be American football and more pie and coffee.

Next weekend, the Christmas lights go up.