PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Chris Jericho arrived at the Dunkin' Donuts Center on Monday afternoon clad in a Team Canada hockey jersey. Trish Stratus wore a Canada hat and a T-shirt that read "All Canadian Girl." None of this was a coincidence. "I wore it yesterday," said Jericho, referring to his jersey. "I put it in the wash and wore it again today."
Y2J and Trish -- as well as fellow Canadians Lance Storm, Edge, Christian and Test -- were grinning from ear to ear on Monday, one day after the Canadian men's Olympic hockey team defeated the United States to win the gold medal.
It was the first time in 70 years that a U.S. men's team had lost on Olympic home ice, and it came three days after the Canadian women's hockey team beat the Americans to secure the gold medal.
"Everything is right in the world again," said Lance Storm, a proud native of Calgary, Alberta. "The sky is blue, grass is green, and Canada rules at hockey."
Storm said he's not even a big hockey fan -- putting him in the distinct minority among the Federation's Canadian contingent -- but he enthusiastically backed Team Canada "more for locker room bragging rights than anything else."
One obvious target for a little good-natured ribbing on Monday was Kurt Angle, the Federation's (American) Olympic gold medalist. But Angle said he already had a comeback.
"I told them that it wasn't in wrestling," Angle said. "When a Canadian beats an American in wrestling, then you've got something to brag about."
A Canadian wrestler -- Daniel Igali -- won a gold medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics. But Igali was born in Nigeria so "it doesn't count," Angle said. Plus, Igali beat a Russian in the finals.
While you may think Angle was the main person that Canadians were after on Monday, the actual No. 1 target for lampooning was none other than "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. Flair, it turns out, is a huge (American) hockey fan who follows the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks.
Flair watched part of the game Sunday with Storm, Edge and Christian at the Federation's non-televised event in Manchester, N.H.
"We were trying to figure out how to budget our day so we could do the (Manchester) show, work out and still watch the game," said Edge, a native of Toronto, home of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
So the Canadian threesome took in the first period at the Verizon Wireless Center in Manchester, while Flair walked in an out of the room periodically.
"He kept running in and 'Wooing' at us," Storm said.
His biggest "Woo," no doubt, came when Tony Amonte, who normally plays for the Blackhawks, scored the first goal of the game, making the score 1-0 United States.
"(Flair) said, 'I told you guys. Chicago 1, Canada 0,'" Christian said.
Edge, Christian and Storm bolted out of the building after the first intermission -- by then the score was 2-1 Canada -- to head to a nearby gym, where they watched the remainder of the game.
The gym was in the U.S., of course, so the three Canadians were in enemy territory -- but that didn't stop them. Each time the Canadian team scored, Edge and Christian shrieked with delight.
"Everybody kind of turned and look at us like we were crazy," Christian said.
Meanwhile, Flair was traveling toward Providence with his good friend Arn Anderson.
"It was 2-2 when I left," Flair said on Monday, before he had run into any Canadians. "They'll be doggin' me today."
Indeed, Canada won, 5-2, giving all the Federation's Canadian superstars the last "Woo."
Edge didn't even want to wait until Monday. He tried to reach Flair via Anderson's cell phone.
"(Arn) said, '(Flair) refuses to talk to you. He's a poor representative of the Four Horsemen because he won't stand up and take it like a man,'" Edge recalled.
But Flair couldn't avoid the Canadians forever.
"He knew as soon as he saw me (on Monday)," Christian said. "He started shaking his head."
Flair is apparently one of just a few Americans in the Federation locker room who follow hockey. Tony Chimel, the ring announcer for SmackDown!, and Mike Chioda, the veteran referee, are two others -- and Chioda owes money to every Canadian.
"He bet everybody," said Jericho, who had already collected his $20. "He's a fool."
However, virtually every Canadian on the Federation roster is a hockey fan -- and even if they aren't, as was the case with Storm, they watched the game anyway. It was reported to be the most-watched event in Canadian history.
Trish Stratus, who had the weekend off, was just one Canadian who watched the game -- in her living room in Toronto.
"It was a special moment," she said. "As a competitive athlete, you appreciate it all the more."
Test was part of the event in Manchester, but he didn't realize the game was on backstage.
"I was calling my parents every five minutes to find out what the score was," he said.
Jericho, who also had a rare weekend off, watched the game with his wife's family in Tampa, Fla. A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Y2J relished the fact that Canada's half-century gold medal drought in hockey had finally come to an end.
"It's been a huge monkey on our back for the last 50 years," said the Undisputed Federation Champion. "It's important for the nation way more than the U.S. just for that reason."
