Canadian Women’s Hockey Celebration Draws Attention From IOC

The International Olympic Committee is a no-nonsense group, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that it is unhappy with the Canadian women's hockey team for its celebration after winning gold on Thursday night.

The celebration, which took place after Canada shut out the United States 2-0 in the championship game, included the players drinking champagne and beer and smoking cigars on the ice, and it's "drawn the ire of the IOC," according to NJ.com.

The Web site also displayed a photo of 18-year-old Marie-Philip Poutin drinking a beer on the ice. The legal drinking age is 19 in British Columbia.

"I don't think it's a good promotion of sport values," the IOC's executive director of the Olympics, Gilbert Felli, told The Associated Press. "If they celebrate in the changing room, that's one thing, but not in public. We will investigate what happened."

Hockey Canada issued the following apology:

"The members of Team Canada apologize if their on-ice celebrations, after fans had left the building, have offended anyone. In the excitement of the moment, the celebration left the confines of our dressing room and shouldn't have. The team regrets that its gold medal celebration may have caused the IOC or COC any embarrassment."

Canadian Olympic Committee spokesman Steve Keough, however, didn't seem to be too apologetic.

"In terms of the actual celebration, it's not exactly something uncommon in Canada," Keough told the AP. "I think Canadians understand it's quite an emotional moment for our team. It was not our intention to go against any IOC protocols."