Canadian Women's Soccer Team gets a little inspiration from Celine Dion

Look. Whatever works.

That's the conclusion I think we can all come to upon hearing that the Canadian National Women's Soccer team uses Celine Dion's version of "The Power Of Love" as their inspirational post-game song after every match.

Must admit, though, when I was tasked with writing a column on this topic, I was a little more jazzed up, originally. That's because the email I received from our esteemed leader, Steve McAllister, merely mentioned the title of the song. I immediately thought: "Alright, I love that song!"

In fact, "Power Of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News is one of my very favourite songs of the 1980's. It ain't that "Power Of Love," though. Too bad. Had a great idea for a video where that song is playing, a DeLorean races up to Commonwealth Stadium, in Edmonton, and out piles the entire women's team, set for business. Maybe eve a cameo from Michael J. Fox at the end. Or Crispin Glover, I don't know.

Ah well.

In answering one of "Twenty Questions" put to her by National Post columnist Sean Fitz-Gerald, national team netminder Karina LeBlanc talked about the adoption of that song as Canada's official wind-down song, although her answer doesn't seem completely flush with any kind of "eureka" moment.

"You know, it’s just one of those things, after every game, you always play a slower song," she told Fitz-Gerald. "We love Celine Dion. And that’s a song that everybody seemed to know. It caught on. And I think it’s a combination of loving Celine Dion and a song that everybody knew. And we love each other," she told Fitz-Gerald.

Let's put aside, for a moment, that Celine Dion is, at once, one of the most loved and reviled artists on planet earth right now. She's basically the Nickelback of easy listening. Or, they are the Celine Dion of rock, whatever.

If Christine Sinclair needs Celine to bring her down off that intensity ledge after she death-stares holes right through her opponents, so be it. If the entire squad needs - for that same reason -  the benign strains of a song that was first made a giant hit by Jennifer Rush in the 1980's, great. By the way, my bias in favour of that decade's music shows again as I much prefer Rush's version of the song. (Lightbulb moment: Call Geddy Lee and suggest he and the boys do a prog-rock, 7 minute version of "Power Of Love." That'd = all sides of awesome).

Where was I? Right.

Let's not be too judgy-judgy about all this. All that matters to Canadian soccer fans is that the girls get it done, right? There is a rather large amount of pressure on them to succeed and that pressure is only that much greater because they are wearing the maple leaf on home soil (Just ask world champion curler Nolan Thiessen, who's written a column on that special kind of pressure for EH Game).

We all have our guilty pleasures in music, do not deny it. Outwardly, you may sneer at Celine's fans, but c'mon. Even if it is a Celine-free zone, can you really say your music library is 100% molasses free? I, for one, have belted out "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" at the top of my lungs more than one time while alone in my car.

So, keep cranking the Celine, ladies. If it's what you need, do not deny yourselves that vital nourishment. Laugh off the scoffers and the haters. They are all hiding a secret: That somewhere in their hearts and minds, lurks the love of a song that might get them scorched by their friends' musical outrage flamethrowers.

Guarantee this: If you get to play for gold, a packed stadium of onlookers will stand and sing along if "The Power Of Love" floats down from the loudspeakers.