VANCOUVER, B.C. - This one hurt.
Fans across the country fastened their eyes to TVs, plunked down in packed bars and jostled through street parties to cheer on Team Canada Sunday. In downtown Vancouver, they jockeyed for position in a packed pit in front of two giant outdoor TV screens for the Canada-U.S. men's hockey showdown.
When Sidney Crosby scored to bring the Canadians within a goal in the dying minutes of the third period, the crowd hollered and squealed with renewed vigour.
Just a few minutes later, a sea of red - jerseys, scarves, hats, face paint, hoodies and those ever-present mittens - had evaporated. The roar that had persisted for hours was gone, and there was silence enough to hear the sound of water bottles and crushed-up cola cans being kicked around underfoot.
The city collectively deflated as the men's Olympic hockey team sputtered to a 5-3 loss, and vocal fans directed their scorn at the few Americans brave enough to celebrate and hold their flags aloft.
"America sucks!" screamed one Canadian fan.
"Not tonight," came the reply.
There was some outrage, too, with fans chanting, "That was rigged!" and "It was luck!"
Around the glow of a TV in Vancouver's Yaletown neighbourhood, they greeted the Americans' third goal with a profane chant not fit for print.
"Canada played hard, they just about had it, but all in all, the Americans, they were the better team," said Brandon Hill of Ladysmith, B.C., who soon led his friends through a "Lu-on-go!" chant.
But he was not giving up.
"We can still win the gold medal."
In Halifax, a few hundred people quietly filed out into the night at the 10,000-seat Metro Centre, where the game was broadcast live.
"Disappointment, pure disappointment," said a subdued Kyle Hamelin, a 25-year-old salesman. He added that he was "100 per cent" worried this year's team would fail to reach the podium, as Canada did four years ago in Turin.
"That's exactly what I'm thinking - that they're going to be out way before they should be out," he said.
In Toronto, fans clad in red toques and jerseys crammed into Wayne Gretzky's bar, with couples clinging to each other and the Canuck cluster cheering on the home team even as they trailed.
After the game, 23-year-old Andre Batson of Toronto suggested the team buckled under a bundle of nerves.
"It was a lot of pressure knowing that everyone around the country was watching this game," he said. "Tomorrow it's going to be a really sad day, but it's what we needed. It's going to be a wake up call."
Edmonton fans were spirited, too. Steven Walton and his friends - gathered at an Irish pub in the city's downtown - came prepared with red balloons, maple leaf-shaped hand warmers, a cow bell and inflatable plastic noise makers.
"Going into this tournament, I never expected Canada to be the given to win gold," said the 34-year-old. "As long as we give it our all, that's all that matters."
In Montreal, fans swapped their ubiquitous Habs jerseys for threads of a different red, crowding downtown bars to catch the action.
Following the loss, some remained confident that the team could recover - the Canucks now need four straight wins to take gold - but were still distressed that Canada had surrendered bragging rights to the rival Americans.
"I work with a bunch of Americans," said 35-year-old Laurie Metcalf of Hudson, Que. "It would have been really nice to win this game."
Vancouver, meanwhile, was dotted with its share of red, white and blue sweaters. Many of the Americans who headed north to take in the Olympic festivities tried not to celebrate too conspicuously.
"I'm not cheering when we score because I don't want to draw attention to myself," said Emily Hanken of Portland, Ore., who watched the game outside in downtown Vancouver, clad in a vivid white U.S.A. hockey jersey.
"If the U.S. wins, I'm going to take the jersey off," she announced during the second period.
American fans were less subtle as they streamed out of G.M. Place following the game. The omnipresent cries of "Go Canada Go!" were shoved aside by shouts of "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"
"Best sporting event I've ever seen in my entire life - nothing will ever compare to that," said 28-year-old Adam Grunfeld of New York, wearing a U.S. flag around his neck.
American fans waved flags and sprinted through the streets as Canadians - stunned looks splashed across their paint-smeared faces - tried to put their best spin on the loss.
"It's obviously disappointing on home soil, but I think in the end, we're going to prevail," said Chris Jackson, a 27-year-old from Toronto who was wearing a Canadian flag as a cape.
"I think you're going to see Canada in the gold medal (game)."
