via www.youthink.com

So, here I go, I proudly proclaimed my affinity to the United States, watched the entire game at a bar where half their TV's stopped working from the 5 minute mark of the third period to the end of the handshake line, and drank so much beer a brewery is considering changing the name of their Scotch Ale to "GoodKeith lager."

And Sidney Crosby killed every one of my good feelings with a five-hole strike on Ryan Miller. Dang.

So here's the unofficial USA-Canada handshake thread -- I know I'm not the only USA supporter out here, feeling a bit lost. The most important thing about all this is now that my bout of patriotism has ended, my loyalties to the Canucks remain 100% intact. I get to watch six players who made the Olympic tournament their own personal highlight reel (Hank, Dank, Salo, Pavol, Kesler and Luongo) play on the same team. I look forward to seeing Luongo's confidence swell now that he's won the big one.

But, today, I start the healing process with the handshakes. Great seeing everyone's spirit and excitement for these Olympics on a daily (and sometimes hourly) basis. Looks like Canada did, indeed, own the podium these Olympics. After a rough start, couldn't have happened any other way.

Also I'm still laughing at Zandberg putting up a picture of Hacksaw Jim Duggan last week when the USA-Canada prelim game occurred. Well done.

--GoodKeith