When the Canadian women's hockey team came from behind to first tie up the final game, then beat Team USA for the gold in overtime, hockey fans on Twitter got a little overheated - and classless.
Avert your eyes if the indignant use of profanity offends you but for a short while Thursday afternoon, the hashtag #F***Canada was trending on Twitter.
Yes, fans of the U.S. team were so upset with the skills of our gold medal-winning women, they decided to heap their scorn on our entire country.
A tweet from user @_Kalls read: "If you aren't upset about this game, you can just go ahead and pack your bags and move to Canada because we don't want you. #USA #F***Canada"
That one earned plenty of "favorites" and retweets - and some fairly angry replies.
@UMDHumor seemed to suggest the women's game was really just a warm-up for the men's game: "The real hockey game is tomorrow. #F***Canada"
And @KevinTurley vowed to take out his anger on his pancakes: "Just threw out all of the MAPLE syrup in my house #f***canada"
Spitting vitriol through 140-character tweets is nothing new, but the anger piled on Canada stunned more than a few Twitter users. Some Canadians reacted with their own indignation.
"They weren't saying #f***canada when our soldiers died fighting their war in Afghanistan," wrote Twitter user @_Confessor
While others reacted with trademark Canadian humour.
"To the #F***Canada crowd. Listen, our healthcare is free, we are great at hockey & we let people marry who they love. Also. Poutine," wrote @GregPoirier in a tweet that was retweeted several times.
User @ashleybrett wondered if perhaps he had misunderstood. "Ohhhhh they meant #F***YeahCanada," he said.
Still others urged hockey fans to pull it together and just calm down.
"#F***Canada is trending? Stay classy USA," wrote @MelanieDias15. That sentiment was retweeted and favourited several times.
"If #Canada's Women's Hockey Team had won Silver, we would be celebrating, not being mean-spirited. #F***Canada is a hashtag for #SoreLosers," opined @Nat_Rea.
The nail-biting women's final was a hot topic throughout Thursday afternoon. Even the popular @TweetofGod account chimed in.
"OK, seriously, that's the LAST time I help you out, Canada. This time I mean it. #USAvsCanada #womenshockey #CanvsUSA" he wrote, then added
"I have to help Canada at hockey because it's all they have up there besides civility and poutine."
Even Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama got in on the rivalry, albeit on more friendly terms. Following the women's hockey win Thursday, Harper took to Twitter to remind Obama that he owes him a case of beer. The pair bet two cases of beer - one for each Canada-U.S. Olympic hockey matchup - at the leaders' summit in Mexico this week.
With the Canadian men's hockey team preparing to face off against the U.S. team in the semifinals later Friday, prepare for more of the same.
Some Twitter users have already created a hastag to declare which spoils should go to the loser of today's game: #LoserKeepsBieber.
And at least one bar owner in New York State is taking out some early revenge.. on Canadian beer. The owner of the Amherst Ale House tweeted Thursday night that it won't be serving any Canadian beers during the men's semi-final game.
"This is a patriotic matter, thanks for your understanding," the bar wrote.