As I'm walking up my street, I see a strange sight: A man in his mid to late 50s is waving a large Canadian flag mounted on about a four-metre pole, with a recording of O Canada blasting out of his van parked in the laneway behind him.

His eyes spoke of a certain eccentricity within his soul.

"We beat the Russians!" he said, moving the Maple Leaf from side to side. "We're goin' for gold tomorrow!"

As far as I could tell, absolutely no one else really gave a rat's ass in this particular chunk of Canada about our great nation's 4-3 triumph in the semi-finals of the world hockey championships.

People were going about their business, working on their homes, taking their kids and dogs for a walk, organizing their garage sales -- and generally carrying on with hockey-free lives.

I watched the last period at a local resto (no cable). Sports programming is not normally part of the menu.

"I don't watch sports," declared the barista, when asked what channel TSN was on.

"There's a hockey game on?" asked the smiley, pleasant young waitress.

No one coming in or out of the resto even publicly asked what the score was.

Too bad. The game ended with a bang. Canada had a 4-0 lead at one point, but Russia steamed back with three goals. Russia outshot Canada by a 2:1 ratio in the last two periods and almost tied it in the dying seconds. Thank the agile left leg of Martin Brodeur for keeping that puck out.

So it was a great game, but I may be part of a dwindling number of Canadians who cares.

In fact, it may be down to me and my flag-waving neighbor. :)