I very nearly lost a bet tonight, while the country held its breath for the entire third period of the mens hockey game when Team Canada dodged a bullet from Team Slovakia. At no time was I absolutely, 100% sure Canada would win, but I was fully prepared to live up to my promise of buying a Slovak hockey jersey and wearing it if Canada lost its game tonight. I would’ve even worn it in the office, where I’d never live down the scorn. As of Friday afternoon, I heard people in the office were on the phones booking flights to Vancouver and tickets from the internet for the gold medal game on Sunday — that’s how confident everyone was that Canada would win tonight.
I think in sport anything can happen and once in a while national pride from even a small country like Slovakia can surprise people. And it did!
I sent the message to Radovan several days ago after Slovakia beat Sweden, with every intention of ponying up the cash for a Slovak jersey if they beat the odds. If they did, Radovan probably wouldn’t be sipping the icewine I brought over from Toronto last June like he is in this picture, he’d be slugging it back like it was beer. In fact, making a trip back to Bratislava (which was part of my high-stakes bet) would probably land me in a big party in the streets.
No matter which country won, I’d be the least disappointed (non-Slovak) since I’m a Canadian who likes Slovakia and would love it if either team beat the USA. Ha!
As it stands, Slovakia made a valiant effort while Canada scared the living daylights out of everyone from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland by nearly blowing a 3-goal lead. As an ode to gutsy Slovakia, I dug back through my archives from last year and proffer a few more trip photos from Bratislava. I had a great 37th birthday there!
More Bratislava photos can be found here (the album is very far from complete!).
Video from today: a photo slideshow of Slovakia from YouTube
