Here in Toronto one is constantly aware of the enormous difference between the U.S. and our northern neighbors when it comes to the game of hockey. It is not too much to say they live and breathe the game here.

For those in New England, the love of hockey in Canada is exactly comparable to the furor over the Red Sox. It is endless and heartfelt.

The current World Cup of Hockey features the best of eight countries in games played in Europe and North America. In Canada, the headlines are about Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic and just how Team Canada is doing.

In the U.S., the game scores can be hard to find in many papers, and they certainly aren’t on the front page, not even of the sports page.

The Canadians won the gold in the last Olympics in Salt Lake, but they lost the finals of the last World Cup that was played in 1996. The U.S. won that series by taking two out of three from Canada in a major upset.

That loss has not been forgotten in Canada. In the U.S. many have no idea it even happened.

Canada wants the World Cup title back. Canada must win its game Saturday against the Czech Republic to face the winner of Friday’s game between the U.S. and Finland.

The final will be in Toronto on Tuesday and Canadian hockey fans hope that will feature the U.S. and Canada, one more time.

Every hour there are updates on Canadian TV as to what Team Canada is doing, interviews with the players and predictions from the experts, much as we see on U.S. television regarding football this time of year.

Every word muttered about the upcoming NHL work stoppage is dissected and debated. Canadians really don’t care what the final collective bargaining agreement looks like; they just want it done so they can have their hockey.

Ironically, the final game on Tuesday comes on the day the current agreement expires. The joke in Toronto is what happens if the final game goes into overtime and past midnight.

The agreement will have expired, so will the players have to leave the ice?

The joke is not funny in Canada. There will be a bitter sweet midnight hour Tuesday if Canada makes the World Cup final and the NHL parties do not reach an accord before then.

There is no reason to believe an agreement will be reached in time to avoid a lockout of the players. Players are not going to report to camps next week and have packed to go home from the World Cup games.

Canada will moan the loss of their game and they will be angry. In the U.S., there will be a note of the shutdown and it will be on to football, basketball and the baseball playoffs.

Hockey is still Canada’s game, but Tuesday may be the end of the games for 2004.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.