Gold medal game affected air travel, sales, Canadian urination

For all the facts, figures and revelations that have emerged from the 2010 Winter Olympic hockey tournament, none can equal the hilarious confirmation that Canadians fans were more dedicated to watching the gold medal game than answering nature's call.

From Pat's Papers comes this graph from EPCOR, the water utility in Edmonton, which tracked the local water consumption during the Feb. 28 gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada. EPCOR told the Globe & Mail that it saw a similar pattern during 2006 Stanley Cup final games between the Edmonton Oilers and the Carolina Hurricanes.

As you can see, consumption reached its lowest point during the medal ceremony, just edging out Sidney Crosby's(notes) game-winning goal.* It reached its highest point after the gold medal ceremony, when Canadian fans were on Cloud 9 at the same time their back teeth were apparently floating.

We imagine the inverse of this chart could be published as an accurate depiction of beer consumption in Edmonton on that day as well. Meanwhile, in other gold medal aftermath news:

• Canwest reported on Wednesday that an Air Canada flight out of Vancouver was delayed when passengers ignored calls to board while they watched the gold medal game on airport TVs. Air Canada chief executive Calin Rovinescu: "We incurred a flight delay for a reason Air Canada had not yet encountered in over 72 years of existence."

• XP Events, which handled concessions for the Vancouver Games, gambled and won: They didn't order a single item depicting a U.S. gold medal in men's hockey, but invested in gold medal hats and T-shirts from Nike in case Canada won. XP President Alan Few told Sports Business Journal (reg. required) that "a few thousand units" were sold immediately after the gold medal ceremony, and no doubt continue to move.

• Finally, a man robbed a pretzel shop in suburban Buffalo this week in a shoplifted Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh Penguins jersey. As if someone wearing No. 87 hadn't already ripped something precious from the hands of a Buffalo employee ...

Thanks to Dave C. for the pretzel bit; and roughly two dozen readers for the Edmonton water usage tips.

* Ed. Note: Story originally, and incorrectly, had lowest level of use at the end of the third period.