Vancouver 2010: Day 5 – At the Molson Brewery to watch Canada vs. Norway Men’s Hockey

The fifth day of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics found ourselves invited to the local Molson brewery to share in a gathering of fellow hockey fans to take in TV coverage of the men’s hockey game between Canada and Norway.

Even though the gathering was small, this is a pretty big deal to be able to hang out with the movers and shakers of Molson, one of the many official sponsors of the games. But the gathering was put into the hands of Richard Loat from the Canucks Hockey Blog to bring all sorts of hockey fans together for this event, continuing their efforts in the social media realm.

During the 2nd intermission of the game, Ferg Devins made an announcement to the group that was not only a first for all of us but had not been announced publicly anywhere.

Devins unveiled a limited edition of Molson Canadian that will be given to each, gold medal athlete for Canada. This massive bottle of beer has a great “Vancouver 2010” along its side, is wrapped with golden foil, corked like a champagne bottle, and is individually, hand signed by Geoff Molson, Vice-President of Marketing and great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of founder John Molson.

As the bottle was shown to our group, it prompted a photo opportunity that was more like passing the Stanley Cup around rather than a really cool, large bottle of beer.

It was very unique and creative of Molson to make this official announcement to a gathering of social media folks like ourselves. I told them thank you many times just to be invited and share in the comradery of such passionate fans cheering for Canada.

It was also great to link up with J.J. again. Since becoming a new dad, it’s been tough to find the time to gather our Crazy Canucks crew, not to mention a lack of our spare time preparing for these winter games and growing sixty4media over the past months. For those wondering where our Canucks podcast has gone, let us get through these games and regroup in time for the playoffs.

With Canada winning 8-0 over Norway, everyone left very happy from this night. Thanks again to Molson for bringing together a bunch of hockey fans to help add to these Olympic games celebrations.

I have to add, and waive my colors just a little bit as well, that the USA men’s hockey team defeated Switzerland in their first match of these games. 3-1 doesn’t seem nearly as cool as 8-0, but after Rebecca’s trip to Switzerland and seeing a Swiss Hockey League game first hand, this is not a country to shrug off. I believe they are a country on the rise for sure.

Are we a force to be reckoned with? I’m not sure yet, but I do love the way these guys played as much as it was fun to see Ryan Kesler’s number 17 on a Team USA jersey. The spirit of competition is now in full effect, and I’m digging every last second of it.