There are some things in life about which I just can’t look the other way.

And I don’t want to detract from the local high school sports season that in the case of wrestling is over and some expected awesomeness is on the way as basketball playoffs get underway this coming weekend. 

Get out and support your local high schools in their tournaments, in this area at St. Ignatius and Frenchtown. 

But our dear friends up North hit the “Chuck hackles” switch, raising my hackle-saturation level to the max. 

As Merle Haggard sang, “When you’re running down my country man, you're walking on the fighting side of me”. 

So, Chuck, what has your hackle (not sure that is an actual word) level meter swinging wildly to the high side? 

Canadian hockey fans. 

In case you missed it, and I’m guessing lots of folks did, there is a major hockey tournament going on featuring the national teams from the United States, Sweden, Finland and Canada. 

The best of the best, minus Russia, gathering in Montreal and Boston hockey venues in a tournament to see who the best in the world is. 

And what do our “good friends” from the great white North do in the pre-game ceremonies between the United States and Canada in Montreal, Canuckle-heads booed the American national anthem. 

Yeah, the folks who think Canadian bacon is anything but a cheap cut of ham, booed our beloved national song. 

Hackle meter on the rise. 

This “rivalry” meeting was fueled by some back and forth ill-will on both sides of the face-off circle.  Texts, the weapon of cowards, flew back and forth.  Just seconds into the match, “mayhem” as a Canadian announcer described it, broke out on the ice. 

The gloves came off, literally, and the fight was on. 

It was, as the old saying goes, a classic case of the adage I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out. 

Canada, we may need your pennies soon.  Ours are too expensive to produce. 

And just so everyone knows, the USA won the match 3-1, a properly applied in-your-face response to booing the “rockets' red glare”. 

As always, there was no doubt some kids watching, kids who play or will be playing hockey.  They will mimic these actions, which leads to degradation of the sport. 

Dentists everywhere are cringing at the thought of reduced hockey. 

In Canada hockey is sacred.  If you’ve ever watched a Canadian Football League game with its weird rules deviation from American football, you can understand why the Canadian love hockey. 

What better way to ignore frozen rivers and ponds than to whack a hard-rubber puck around? 

And American fans, don’t sink to the Canadian level by booing the Canucks! 

Picking on Canada is like shooting fish in a barrel, eh?