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Canada will not be adorned in gold bling when the final siren screams at the World Jr. Hockey Championships. Disappointing, yes. But it’s not the “end of the world as we know it.” Like many of my bleary-eyed friends, I stayed attentive to the end of last night’s game against a better opponent. At least Russia was last night. What is wrong with losing a game? At some point we have instilled a gold-or-nothing attitude about this tournament that is unfair to the players. Nobody wants to disappoint an entire country, but if this group of teen-agers, including two that grew up here, doesn’t win it all, it’s like they failed us. That’s a lot of weight to carry around. Would I have liked to see a different result, absolutely, did I marvel at the skill of the Russians….yes…. at some point you have tip your bucket to a better opponent and grow from it. This morning, Canada’s goalie Scott Wedgewood was on Twitter proclaiming “it’s time to get back to work!” There is still a place on the podium for Canada. It’s bronze, and they have to beat Finland to claim it. It would be refreshing if we applaud the effort, and not tie it to a result that has become unrealistic. You can’t win every year.