You can make fun of our politeness, our insecurities or even the weird way some of us say “out.” But don’t you dare you insult two of the things that define us best: our hockey, and our beer.

That seems to be the sentiment online, where photos of our women’s hockey team celebrating with beer, champagne and cigars after their gold medal win Thursday night have spread like wildifre. Reports of the ladies’ on-ice celebration have appeared on hundreds of news websites across the globe, from The New York Times (“A toast to hockey gold, but at what cost?”) to the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph to Cigar Aficionado (seriously).

But the overwhelming opinion online seems to be that everyone should relax and grab a cold one. Most international media outlets – even the crabby Brits – have taken the high road and avoided outright criticism of the girls, while Joe and Jane web-surfer are rallying to Team Canada’s defence.

“It’s not like the girls were having an orgy on the ice. They were celebrating their well-deserved win,” wrote a user calling herself Karen in Los Angeles, commenting on an NBCsports.com poll that asks, “Did the Canadian women’s hockey team go overboard in their celebration?”

Nearly two-thirds of the poll’s respondents have said no…

 Read the rest of the article here.