Obama Makes Olympic Hockey Beer Bet With Canada

Obama Makes Olympic Hockey Beer Bet With Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Joseph Harper poses with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, left, and President Barack Obama upon his arrival in Chicago, Sunday, May 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Joseph Harper poses with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, left, and President Barack Obama upon his arrival in Chicago, Sunday, May 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have put both national pride and cases of beer on the line in a friendly wager on the Canada-U.S. Olympic hockey matches.

In what has become an Olympic tradition between the leaders, Obama and Harper announced on Twitter that they have staked a case of cold ones on the outcome of each of the women's' and men's' matchups.

"For a very brief period of time, I may not feel as warm towards Canadians as I normally do, at least until those matches are over," Obama quipped to Harper during a leaders' summit in Toluca, Mexico on Wednesday.

The women's teams play for the gold medal on Thursday. Canada has won the gold three times in a row.

The Canada and U.S. men's teams face off in a semi-finals match on Friday.

In 2010, Obama delivered a case of Molson Canadian beer to Harper after Team Canada won the men's' gold in overtime in the Vancouver Olympics.

Their press secretaries bet on the women's game, and Obama's then-spokesman Robert Gibbs had to wear a Team Canada jersey to his daily briefing when he lost the wager to Harper's then-spokesman Dimitri Soudas. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by David Gregorio)

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