If you ever feel the need to boost beer sales, television ratings or unite the people north of the American border, those three words will get you on your way. Add in one of the latest installments of the storied rivalry between Canada and Russia at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and things get even better.

The game was not a disappointment. Going into it, both teams felt the weight of expectation. For the Canadian team, the weight came from being pampered and revered by just about every grunt in the nation. For the Russians, it was simply because they are arguably the most skilled players ever assembled on one team.

On paper the Russians seemed the favorite. After losing their first game in the preliminary round, they were on a run of four straight going into eliminations. Canada, meanwhile, had been a disappointment. During the entire preliminary round, they did not play one impressive game. In fact, during their two losses, they failed to score a single goal.

But the Canadians had been in that type of spot before. The one thing everyone in the hockey community knows is, Canada takes it's hockey seriously. Serious enough to say, break an ankle if needed. Even though Russia was on better form going into the quarter final match-up, they knew they would have to play at their best to move on.

From the opening face-off, they Russians speed advantage was apparent as Alexander Ovechkin and company held an edge in shots during the first period. While the period was played at a high level, both teams played a cautious and conservative style of hockey. Neither team wanted to give up any glorious scoring chances.

The biggest moment of the period came when Canadian forward Simone Gagne was injured by Darius Kasperitus. Kasperitus, often painted as the villain in the NHL circles, backed into Gagne with a solid check that resulted in Gagne's knee being injured. The integral part of Canada's 2002 Salt Lake gold medal team did try to return in the second period, but couldn't continue. Kasperitus was called for a penalty on the play, but most would agree it was nothing but a solid bodycheck.

The pace picked up a little in the second period as the tension increased. With every penalty called, one had to wonder if that was the dumb play that would break a team. Ironically, while killing a penalty, Jerome Iginla had the best chance of the game to score. Sergei Gonchar tripped over the Canadian blue line and Iginla swept in, took the puck and bolted down the right side boards. It was one of few times a Canadian player had the puck in open ice all night. Iginla, however, seemed indecisive on the resulting two on one, and couldn't put the puck past the Russian goalie.

As the second period wound down, it seemed Canada's hopes once again rested on goalie Marty Brodeur shoulders. Brodeur, whose father also medaled in ice hockey for Canada, was a steadying influence on his team all night, beating back the monster skills of Ovechkin, and casually moving the puck up to defensemen on Russian shoot-ins.

The third period finally produced a goal. Fittingly, it was Ovechkin converting a Viktor Kozlov pass on a Russian power play. Ovechkin repeatedly beat Canadian players through the neutral zone and created chances for his team. When scoring his goal however, he simply skated to an open spot while on the power play and one timed a pass from Kozlov.

With first blood drawn, the game truly opened up. Both teams headed straight for the opposing team's goal as soon as they got the puck. The low score of the game belied it's entertainment level as Canada came at the Russians with everything they had.

Joe Sakic, the Canadian captain, carried his speed over the Russian blue line for a scoring chance. On the power play, the Canadians pressured and sometimes the area in front of the Russian net looked like a football line of scrimmage.

During one of those goal mouth scrambles, the referee blew the play dead when he lost sight of the puck. Unfortunately for Canada, his whistle blew about the same time the puck crossed the line for an apparent goal.

With a disappointment such as that, at such a critical time in the game, the Canadians could be excused for the blowing up or just plain giving up. But they didn't. They produced a few more shots on net before the end of the game, but simply ran out of time.

Kovalev scored for the Russians with 23 seconds left in the game to end another fiercely played game between the Russians and the Canadians.

The Canadian media might call these games the "Betzky" games; The Olympics where team Canada had too many distractions to play at their best. But in the end, it didn't matter much.

The Russians were simply too good for the Canadians.