Edmonton, Alberta

It’s been reported that up to 80% of Canadians watched the gold medal Olympic hockey game on 28 February (a nail-biter battle into overtime against the USA). That may actually be more Canadians doing one and the same thing at the same time than ever before in history (as this tends to be a land of individualists, largely wary of anything related to unison or group-think).

A more graphic depiction of the grip hockey has on this country comes from EPCOR, the water utility of the city of Edmonton, Alberta (yes, Wayne Gretzky’s former home town)—they have published a remarkable graph of water consumption on that day that is very telling indeed. It seems that the majority of that city (and by extension, “the true North strong and free”) was peeing and flushing in unison—during the breaks between game periods of course. Quite fascinating what graphical depiction can reveal…

Thanks to photographer friend Ian McCausland for the story; original source here.