So they broke out some beers and cigars, took some pictures and tried to drive the zamboni. Who among us wouldn’t after winning Olympic gold? Only silly prudes would think such a celebration is inappropriate.

I’ll tell you right now…if it was me, there would be much more debauchery involved.

First, I personally have no problem whatsoever with the team returning to the ice to celebrate but I think it demonstrates a severe lack of leadership on behalf of the coaching staff and experienced players to not recognize that this would generate negative press. These are high profile athletes (in this country anyway) and are held to a different standard. It’s extra naive to think that no one would pounce on the underage drinking thing. Of course, celebrate and spray beer / champagne all over one another, but stick to the convention established over decades of championship sport – keep it in the dressing room.

Second, I think one point has gone unaddressed here with respect to the disparity between the top 2 teams and everyone else. Yes, other countries are developing their talent. They’re much better now than they were a decade ago. The problem is that the US and Canada are still developing faster than the other nations. The gap between the skill level of the top two team and even the 3rd / 4th teams is getting wider, not narrower. Let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that giving the sport another 10 years at its current trajectory is going move it towards parity. Significantly larger efforts at promoting women’s hockey in Sweden, Finland, China, and Russia will be necessary before they even have a hope of competing on a regular basis with Canada or the USA.

Would you support a 50-0 score against a weaker opponent just because you can run up the score?

I agree somewhat that the scoring system has something to do with it. The IOC should change that rule to make sure the sport at least appears to be more competitive.

In case you don’t know, here’s why teams do it: the number of goals you score (your ‘goals for’) is usually the tiebreaker statistics when you have the same number of points as another team. This is obviously hugely important if that tiebreaker determines, say, who goes to the next round. It may lesser importance, too, in determining who gets home field advantage.

Also, from a sports psychology perspective, the thinking is that if a team ‘goes easy’ on a lesser team, they risk carrying that behaviour into the subsequent games against tougher opponents. As coaches say, “you have to play your own game, not your opponents”. As such, ‘taking your foot off the gas’ can be risky.